--- title: "China Is Facing A “Precipitous” Population Decline" description: "Chin is facing a \"precipitous\" population decline that leaders fear could lead to economic catastrophe for the rising world power." date: "2019-01-18" modified: "2019-01-18" authors: - name: "Jon Christian" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/population-decline-china" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "china" - "one child policy" - "population" - "the digest" --- # China Is Facing A “Precipitous” Population Decline ![Chin is facing a "precipitous" population decline that leaders fear could lead to economic catastrophe for the rising world power.]() *\Image: Feng Li/Getty Images\* ## Population Decline Chinese demographers recently "delivered a stark warning" to the country's leaders, [according to *The* *New York Times*](): China, which once feared overpopulation, is facing a "precipitous" population decline that could lead to economic catastrophe for the rising world power. "It can be seen that 2018 is a historic turning point in China’s population," University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher Yi Fuxian told the *Times*. "China’s population has begun to decline and is rapidly aging. Its economic vitality will keep waning." ## One-Child Policy That concern is a startling reversal for China, where leaders once feared out-of-control population growth so much that they instituted the "one-child policy" in 1979, [forbidding couples]() from having multiple offspring. Though China [started allowing families]() to have two children in 2016, demographers now fear that the longstanding policy has created a downward population trajectory that could haunt China for decades. As the country's population ages, economists fear, there will be too few workers and too many old people in need of increasing amounts of care. ## New Plan That said, China's leadership has repeatedly demonstrated an ability to jumpstart vast social and economic shifts — from the one-child policy itself to the creation of the [technical and economic megalopolis]() of Shenzhen over the course of just a few decades — via official policy. If China's leaders lean into stabilizing the country's population through policy changes, there's no telling what they'll be able to accomplish. **READ MORE:** [China’s Looming Crisis: A Shrinking Population]() \[*The New York Times*\] ***More on China: [China Plans to Launch Its First Mars Lander Mission Next Year]()*** ## Author I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()