China’s economy threatened by country’s ageing population

May 3rd, 2011 - 3:49 pm ICT by ANI  

Beijing, May 3 (ANI): China’s ageing population is likely to contribute to slower economic growth and higher inflation, according to analysts.

The emergence of negative growth in the total working-age population, which some demographers predict will happen as early as 2013, is likely to affect nations’ economic prosperity.

“The potential emergence of a labour shortage is likely to contribute to slower economic growth in the short term,” The China Daily quoted Zhang Juwei, director of the Labour and Social Security Research Center at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, as saying.

However, analysts have said the demographic shift from a rural surplus of labour to a deficit will help to accelerate the transformation of the growth model from one which is export- and investment-led to one driven by services and consumption.

The latest census data, released by the National Bureau of Statistic, showed that the proportion of the population aged between 0 and 14 fell to 16.6 percent in 2010 from 22.9 percent in 2000.

Meanwhile the number of people aged 60 and above grew to 13.3 percent from 10.3 percent.

According to analysts, to address the issue effectively, policymakers in Beijing need to gradually loosen the family-planning policy and to remove the system of household registration, which is a major barrier to the migration of labour from rural areas to the cities. (ANI)

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