The Sword of Damocles has finally fallen.
For the first time in six decades, China's population will decline in 2022, with 850,000 fewer people, according to official figures.
And this fall - which the country narrowly escaped last year - could well continue for a long time, according to analysts.
"United Nations projections predict that the population could decline to 760 million at the end of the century", compared to 1.4 billion currently, explains Gilles Pison, professor emeritus at the Museum of Natural History, adviser to the management of INED (National Institute for Demographic Studies) and author of "The Atlas of World Population".
This decline is coming "sooner than imagined and the decline expected in the coming years is faster" than initially expected, he continues.
Subscribe to read more
Already subscribed?
To log in