For China, Demography Is a Grim Destiny
“China has embarked on a road of demographic no-return,” writes Wang Feng of the University of California, Irvine. “Left unaddressed, China’s demographic trap could precipitate a civilizational collapse,” Yi Fuxian of the University of Wisconsin-Madison tells us.
China will suffer the biggest population collapse in history in the absence of war or disease. No aspect of Chinese society will be untouched as China goes from the world’s second-most populous state—it lost its population crown to India in the middle of 2023—to a mid-sized one. Demographic decline will make almost every problem more difficult to solve. China is destined for failure on many fronts.
