Aww, the poor Chicoms. They still have a population that’s dying away even after they got rid of their authoritarian “one child” policy:

Today, China faces significant demographic challenges in spite of their change in policy. Modern China needs to stoke population growth if it wants to avoid having too few workers in relation to retirees in coming years. For anyone that knows about demographics, having too many retired folk without enough workers to support them is a recipe for disaster.

Some say the one child policy was needed when it was enacted at the end of the 1970’s. According to some estimates, it’s prevented over 400 million births. But this artificial demographic planning has come a large cost, as it’s widely recognized that the one child policy has had many unintended consequences.

For instance, there’s a massive gender imbalance because people have selectively terminated pregnancies in favor of having boys. That’s because families in China prefer sons, who can support them when they get old. That means that many Chinese men have a hard time finding a wife. Hopefully, the resulting “youth-bulge” that will occur following the reversal of the one child policy will be more gender-balanced or the fallout can be significant. Countries with a male-heavy demographic are more likely to endure civil unrest, war, and instability.

Population growth is key to sustaining Chinese power. There’s little doubt that China’s impressive manufacturing sector has significantly contributed to global economic growth in recent years and that inexpensive, mass produced Chinese wares have revolutionized our way of life (It’s likely you’re reading this article on a China-made electronic device). Cheap labor has always been the centerpiece of the manufacturing model in China. Therefore, without sustained population growth, China’s ability to manufacture competitively will be in grave danger. In other countries, immigration usually picks up the slack when population growth falls, but China is not a popular destination for global migrants in the slightest.