With a rapidly increasing number of retirees and a plummeting number of newborns, China is undergoing a demographic transition that has far-reaching implications, including slower economic growth and a strained social security system.
With a rapidly increasing number of retirees and a plummeting number of newborns, China is undergoing a demographic transition that has far-reaching implications, including slower economic growth and a strained social security system.
Indeed this is a big issue. If you look at the population pyramid for China, there was a bulge corresponding to kids now in middle school, but the births within the last five years are much lower. So first primary schools are hit, but eventually it’ll pass through to universities. This is not just in China, the fertility rate in South Korea, Taiwan, Japan is even lower, suggesting maybe more related to urbanisation /housing, education and blending confucian with modern values, than government policies. However the pyramids are less wavy in those countries, so it seems less ‘news’.
Meanwhile, what can the education profession do ? Maybe there’s scope to reduce class sizes and increase diversity of topics? Or reopen higher education for older people who missed out or change or refresh topic ? Or maybe China will be exporting teachers to Africa where still a rapidly growing number of kids ?