Analysis: How China Can Avoid Long-Term Fallout From a Shrinking Population

China’s inevitable population decline won’t have much of an impact on economic growth in the short term, but policymakers will need to take measures such as improving labor productivity and spurring technological innovation to prevent long-term damage, several demographers said recently.

In mid-January, the government announced that China’s population last year fell for the first time in six decades as there were 850,000 fewer people in the country than in the year before. While this drop has long been expected given China’s falling marriage, birth and fertility rates over the past few years, it has raised concerns that a shrinking population will exacerbate the ongoing domestic problems of a slowing economy and a shrinking workforce.