China becoming a ‘country of old men’

News Snapshot:

As a result, China’s population is being transformed, on multiple dimensions. According to the (relatively conservative) UN medium projections, it will shrink from 1.425 billion in 2020 to 1.313 billion in 2050. China’s share of world population will also fall, from 22 per cent in 1980 to 18 per cent in 2020 and 14 per cent in 2050. But India’s share is forecast to be 17 per cent by 2050. ‘Full of old men and women’ More important than this, striking though it is, is the change in the age composition of the population. While the overall population is forecast...