China's Population Crisis and Economic Impact

Flashcards covering the history, statistics, and impact of China's population policies and demographic shifts.

2022

The year China's population decreased for the first time in $6$ decades due to having more deaths than births.

Manufacturing Superpower

China's global economic status, driven by the fact that nearly $30\%$ of its economic output comes from manufacturing.

1.4 billion

The approximate size of China's population as of $2022$, which is projected to shrink by nearly half by the end of the century.

1950s Famine

A gruesome period under Mao where $30\text{ million}$ people died, causing a major spike in the death rate and a drop in the birth rate.

Baby Boom

A period of skyrocketing birth rates in China that occurred immediately after the major famine and crises of the $1950s$.

Infant Mortality Rate

The rate of infant deaths, which decreased in China due to global medical advances, leading to an average of $6$ children per family at one point.

“Later, Longer, Fewer”

A government policy characterized by later marriages, longer birth intervals, and fewer births to slow down population growth.

One Child Policy

An extreme policy implemented in $1980$ that limited most families to one child to bring population growth under control.

Replacement Rate

The average number of children ($2.1$) each couple needs to have for a population to stay the same size in the long run.

2016

The year the Chinese government finally ended the long-standing One Child Policy.

4-2-1 Family Structure

A family model produced by the one child policy where a couple has $4$ parents above them and $1$ child below them.

Population Pyramid

A visual distribution of a population by age; China's currently shows a narrow bottom (fewer babies) and a heavy top (more elderly).

Kenya

A country used as an example of rapid population growth, represented by a population pyramid that is wide at the bottom and narrow at the top.

Philippines

A country experiencing slower population growth, where the pyramid remains triangular but the difference between top and bottom is less pronounced.

GDP per capita

The best indicator for standard of living; China's remains much lower than that of high-income countries.

Middle Income Country

China's current economic classification despite its rapid rise to becoming a major world economy.

Social Infrastructure

Programs such as health care and pensions that China has yet to fully develop to support its aging population.

Cash Subsidies

One type of monetary support offered by the Chinese government to encourage additional births, which has largely been ineffective.

Three Child Policy

A brief policy phase tried by China after the one child policy and before they allowed families to have as many children as they liked in $2021$.

Population Aging

The outcome of improved health and standards of living combined with sustained low fertility rates.

2050

The year by which China's population pyramid is projected to be extremely top-heavy, further shrinking the labor force.

Economic Modernization

The process that drove China's rapid GDP growth but also contributed to driving birthrates down further.

Resource Constraints

Internal pressures within China that may constrain its global reach and future ambitions.

20 million

The number of men and women China sterilized in a single year under the height of the one child policy.

15 million

The number of induced abortions performed in China in a single year during the most extreme period of the one child policy.