i can only hope that measures such as automation, ubi, and elderly care are accelerated in the decades to come.
If any nation is able to address the issues that come with an inverting population triangle, it’s China. I wouldn’t read too much in to the breathless western panic on the subject, it’s all just projection anyway.
I feel like, as a species, we have to be able to deal with a declining population at some point. We can’t keep growing population indefinitely. At the very least it will have to reach a standstill. If any country is gonna figure it out it’s gonna be a socialist nation like China. They may not have actually achieved full socialism yet but they are on their way.
it doesn’t require breathless western panic to recognize the problems an aging and shrinking population poses. basic logic dictates that more retirees means more of a drain on resources that could be better spent elsewhere, and less labor in general (not everything can be automated).
I didn’t mean to talk down the difficulty of such demographic trends. But all I see from western media on the subject is projecting all the problems and failures capitalist nations have with an aging population onto China. To really consider how China is addressing this I’d be more interested in Party literature and what the 5 year plans have to say on the topic.
