Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) called on top officials to step up efforts to maintain an “appropriate” birthrate and population size, after data in recent months showed an intensifying demographic headwind for the world’s second-largest economy.
In the first meeting of the Chinese Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission since a leadership reshuffle in October last year, Xi on Friday highlighted trends including a low birthrate, aging population and divergence across regions.
“We must fully understand and properly treat the new situations of our country’s demographic development,” Xi said, according to a readout posted on the central government’s Web site.
It is critical for China to focus on improving its population quality while maintaining an appropriate birthrate and population size, he said.
Xi called for an improvement of Beijing’s population-development plans to meet the new situation. The message follows recent confirmation that China’s population began to shrink last year for the first time in six decades — the latest milestone in a worsening demographic challenge.
The country’s workforce has fallen by more than 41 million people in the past three years, reflecting the COVID-19 pandemic’s toll on the economy and a decline in the working-age population.
“The declining labor force and aging population is a reality rather than a problem, and there is no easy solution,” said Neo Wang, Evercore ISI’s New York-based managing director for China Research. “It takes 18 years to grow a worker. Focus has to be on lifting productivity.”
Meanwhile, China has been overtaken by India as the world’s most populous nation, according to UN data released last month.
Top officials at the meeting also promised to accelerate the building of a “full-fledged, advanced and secure” modern industrial system to maintain a strategic advantage in future development and international competition, the statement said.
Ensuring industrial security should be “the priority of priorities,” and more effort should be made to achieve core technology breakthroughs, it said.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang (李強) attended the meeting as the commission’s deputy director. Xi’s chief of staff, Cai Qi (蔡奇), and Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang (丁薛祥) were also present as members of the group.
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