China’s Population Shrinks Again

A rundown of the news making headlines in and around China:

Shrinking population: The number of people in China declined for the third straight year in 2024. The National Bureau of Statistics announced Friday that the country’s population shrank by just shy of 1% to 1.408 billion. The figure shows that the country is not just getting old, but aging at a faster pace. A total of 22% of the population was now over 60 years old last year, up from 21.1% in 2023. This has broad implications for China’s economy, not least of which is the strain on the country’s pension system. In a bit of good news, the number of newborn babies rose to 9.54 million, up from 9.02 million in 2023.