China's population is shrinking and ageing, a process that will continue ( 1. lasting ) in 2025. The total ( 2. birth ) rate, or the average births per woman, has fallen to 1.1, far ( 3. behind ) the 2.1 needed to maintain a stable population. After a possible small post-pandemic ( 4. rise ) of births in 2014, the ( 5. lunar ) year of the dargon, the birth rate is expected to ( 6. keep ) its decline. Meanwhile the number of people over 60 is expected to grow from 300m in 2023 to more than 400m by 2035 -- that is, from one-fifth to nearly one-third of the population. This bodes ( 7. slowdown ) for China's economy, with fewer young people working to support more old folks. But state planners think they have found a silver ( 8 plan ) : the "silver economy".
(From The Economist November 23rd-29th 2024)
