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Good morning.
China has entered an “era of negative population growth”, after figures revealed a drop in the number of people for the first time since 1961.
The country had 1.41175 billion people at the end of 2022, compared with 1.41260 billion a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday, a fall of 850,000. It marked the beginning of what is expected to be a long period of population decline, despite government efforts to reverse the trend.
Speaking on the eve of the data’s release, Cai Fang, the vice-chair of the agriculture and rural affairs committee of the National People’s Congress, said China’s population had reached its peak in 2022, much earlier than expected. “Experts in the fields of population and economics have predicted that by 2022 or no later than 2023, my country will enter an era of negative population growth,” Cai said.
China’s government has for several years been scrambling to encourage people to have more children, and stave off the looming demographic crisis caused by an ageing population. Some provinces or cities have announced cash payments to parents who have a second or third child. Last week, the city of Shenzhen announced financial incentives that translate into a total of 37,500 yuan ($5,550) for a three-child family.
The Democratic party’s rationale for shaking up its presidential primary process was fairly straightforward: the system is dominated by two predominantly white states who vote first, giving people of color little say in choosing the potential next president.
Facing fuming New Hampshire officials, however, and a Georgia Republican party happy to meddle in Democrats’ plans, the Joe Biden-led effort to make things more equitable looks increasingly in peril.
New Hampshire, which has held the first presidential primary for decades, is particularly unyielding, raising the prospect of a rogue vote taking place in the state.
The Democratic National Committee approved a new primary schedule in December 2022, which would introduce the most significant changes to the way a potential president is selected in decades.
