How China's aging society pushes Xi to rethink population policies

Chinese leader introduces fresh ideas about population development in state journal‚ focusing on quality over quantity. His new approach aims to solve aging-related problems but faces deep-rooted system limits

November 28 2024 , 12:05 PM  •  3160 views

How China's aging society pushes Xi to rethink population policies

Xi Jinping recently shared his thoughts in Qiushi journal showing a new way to look at Chinas population problems. Instead of worrying about numbers he wants to make people more skilled and smart (which he calls high-quality population development)

The idea isnt really new though - its called suzhi and its been around for ages; making some not-so-nice differences between city and country folk. Now Xi says its his own new idea but really hes just putting a fresh coat of paint on an old-fashioned concept

The country faces some real head-scratchers with its getting-older population:

  • Pension funds might run dry in about 10 years
  • Marriage rates dropped by half since early-2010s
  • Birth rates hit rock-bottom in 2022
  • Young people dont want traditional family life anymore

The hukou system (which ties peoples rights to where they live) makes everything super-complicated; keeping rural folks stuck without good healthcare or schools while big-city people get all the nice stuff. Its like having two different countries in one: fancy Shanghai with its cool elder-care vs poor villages where old farmers work till they cant anymore

The private business world got hit hard when govt started making strict rules couple years back - wiped out tons of money and made everyone super careful about taking risks. Now Xi wants innovation but companies are too scared to try new things

High-quality population development is a new concept

Xi claims in Qiushi

Other countries have their own stories: Japan got stuck cause it waited too long to fix things; South Korea tried throwing money at people to have babies (didnt work); Germany found success with letting in workers from outside - but China wont do that

The whole thing is pretty messy: Xi wants change but doesnt want to loosen his grip on power. Without fixing the basic problems like the hukou system housing costs and work-life stuff nothing much will change