this post was submitted on 17 Jan 2024
122 points (95.5% liked)

World News

39023 readers
2245 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
all 31 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Deceptichum@kbin.social 30 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Feel sorry for the children born today who will have to carry the burden to support the elderly.

[–] HowRu68@lemmy.world 8 points 10 months ago

who will have to carry the burden to support the elderly.

Yes, and I don't want to think about what will happen if they [ the children] either can't or won't.

[–] gapbetweenus@feddit.de 27 points 10 months ago (5 children)

Will be interesting to see how China will takle that problem. Other countries didn't find any solution besides immigration.

[–] Deceptichum@kbin.social 24 points 10 months ago (2 children)

China’s (Asia in general) pretty racist, so immigration isn’t going to be on the cards.

There is a small island with 24 million people they’d like to absorb however.

[–] gapbetweenus@feddit.de 11 points 10 months ago (1 children)

That island does not really solve that problem.

[–] Deceptichum@kbin.social 5 points 10 months ago

Long term no, but for a dictator looking for a quick fix and to rally any unhappy discontent citizens.

[–] ExfilBravo@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

Yeah we saw the Uyghur camps too. Racist and brutal.

[–] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 7 points 10 months ago

Likely robots.

[–] dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago

China might figure this one out first. In fact, China is so far ahead of everyone, they even built entire abandoned cities before there was any issue with birth rates.

[–] Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I don't see it as a problem unless there's concern about the rich getting richer.

You need people to help support the older generations

[–] Rayspekt@kbin.social 0 points 10 months ago

Forced insemination

[–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world 22 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

Weird how selectively producing as many of the sex that can't give birth as possible for a few decades would decrease birth rates!

Next you're gonna tell me that rampant government censorship limits free expression of dissent!

[–] Toneswirly@lemmy.world 33 points 10 months ago (2 children)

It aint just One Child causing this; pop. decline is happening all over the world right now

[–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world 19 points 10 months ago (1 children)

It might not be JUST because of that, but One Child sure as hell didn't help.

[–] BakerBagel@midwest.social -1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

One child ended officially over a decade ago, and in practice even earlier. China has the same demographic issue as other developed countries in that most if the population is hitting retirement age and there aren't enough workers to replace them. The US and Europe can mitigate this by allowing more immigration, but China is a fairly tacist society, nor is it an attractive destination for migrants. If I'm a Nigerian doctor looking to leave Lagos, I'm not going to China if I can emigrate to the US, UK, or Canada.

[–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago

One child ended officially over a decade ago, and in practice even earlier

Long enough ago that it's not exacerbating the situation now? Yeah, didn't think so.

China has the same demographic issue as other developed countries in that most if the population is hitting retirement age and there aren't enough workers to replace them

That's like saying "Denmark has a problem with gun violence just like the US does" 🙄

Degrees of severity matters and as I pointed out in my previous reply, it's more severe in China than in countries that HAVEN'T depressed birth rates and massively skewed gender ratios as a matter of official policy for decades.

[–] Thorny_Insight@lemm.ee 13 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

One child policy definitely did not help, but this is a problem on many other places too including virtually every single first world country.

What's even worse is that if your country needs more 30 year olds it does not help to start making more children now. It needed to be done 30 years ago. It's either immigration or automation.

[–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago

this is a problem on many other places too

Yes, but the SEVERITY of the problem differs. I'll bet you dollars to doughnuts that it's worse in China than the average of countries that DIDN'T have laws predictably causing this exact problem.

It needed to be done 30 years ago. It's either immigration or automation.

30 years ago when One Child was still in effect, you say? Imagine that!

And I vote immigration.

[–] BlastboomStrice@mander.xyz 16 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Isn't that what China wanted some decades ago?

[–] PugJesus@kbin.social 18 points 10 months ago (2 children)

They wanted the population to decline, but they didn't anticipate that their population pyramid would get so fucked. So now they're in a weird position.

[–] ninjan@lemmy.mildgrim.com 14 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Basically they didn't expect life expectancy to rise so fast. People live decades after they stop being able to contribute in terms of taxes and labor.

[–] cecinestpasunbot@lemmy.ml 0 points 10 months ago

Exactly. It’s clear they did not foresee how rapidly their economy would expand following economic reform. An aging population and declining birth rates are some of the many growing pains that they’re currently figuring out how to manage.

[–] veni_vedi_veni@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

And also fucked up the sex ratio at the same time. Part of the reason why CCP wants to go to war, since single young unemployed guys are more likely to be agitators.

[–] Thorny_Insight@lemm.ee 4 points 10 months ago

For countries like China and Russia the issue is that if you're planning to go to war you need to do it now because in few decades you wont have enough fighting age men left.

[–] cecinestpasunbot@lemmy.ml 3 points 10 months ago

The CCP does not want to go to war though. They’re far more risk averse than most people seem to think.

[–] Blackout@kbin.social 11 points 10 months ago

It is shocking. None of my close friends there have kids, nor seem to want one. Food is still relatively cheap but the other costs of living compared to wage are ridiculous

[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 4 points 10 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


Chinese officials fear the impact that this “demographic timebomb” could have on the economy, with the rising costs of aged care and financial support in danger of not being met by a shrinking population of working taxpayers.

The state-run Chinese Academy of Sciences has predicted the pension system in its current form will run out of money by 2035.

A raft of policies have failed to encourage people to have more children, or have not been properly implemented by local governments, which are suffering budget shortfalls after years of running the resource-intensive zero-Covid system.

People frequently cite the high costs of living in China – particularly in larger cities – as well as poor support for women in jobs, as reasons for not having children.

“Though cities have released a slew of … policies to support child-bearing women to give birth, the public’s expectation is still not being met,” He Dan, director of China Population and Development Research Center, told state media outlet the Global Times.

Others were more sceptical, saying a single year baby boom would make life difficult for those children who would later sit for China’s highly competitive college entrance exam.


The original article contains 560 words, the summary contains 194 words. Saved 65%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] SouravSatvaya@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Meanwhile Indians: It's our opportunity to get to the top place. 📈

[–] Fades@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago

How unfortunate