Racing toward a Population Cliff

A recent report released by the United Nations Population Division (UNPD) predicts that China's population will reach 1.42 billion people by the end of 2025 and fall to slightly above 1 billion by the end of the century. Alternative scenarios range from 613 million to 1.56 billion people at the end of the century.

This makes the worries among Chinese researchers and the public that the population will collapse absent drastic corrective measures seem unfounded. However, a closer look at the historical data from the UN shows it has always overestimated the growth of China's population.