China's Population To Peak in 2029 At 1.44 Billion

Beijing: China's population will peak in 2029 at 1.44 billion before beginning a period of "unstoppable" decline, a government report said. The study by China Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) warned that the country must implement policies to handle a smaller workforce and an older population, the BBC reported on Sunday. Both changes combined — long-term population decline and a continuously ageing population — could cause "very unfavourable social and economic consequences", the report said. In 2015 the world's most populous country ended its one-child policy in a bid to tackle the problems. According to latest UN estimates, China has a population of 1.41 billion. The study, appearing in CASS's Green Book of Population and Labour, said that working population numbers were now stagnating, with a low fertility rate set to cause further issues. By the middle of the century, China's population is expected to drop to 1.36 billion - a fall in the labour force of close to 200 million. The study also predicted a rise in the dependency rate (increase in the proportion of non-working people like the elderly and the children). (IANS)

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