China Touts Quality Workforce as India Becomes Most Populous Country

China has responded to India overtaking it as the world’s most populous nation, with Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin emphasizing the importance of the quality of a country’s population over its size. Wang highlighted that China has a workforce of almost 900 million people, with an average of 10.9 years of education, and has implemented a national strategy to address its ageing population. Despite China’s population declining by 850,000 people year-on-year to 1.4118 billion in 2022, Wang said that China’s talent dividend is in the making and the driving force for China’s development remains strong. China has implemented a third-child policy to address its demographic challenges. China’s overall population declined by 850,000 people year-on-year to 1.4118 billion in 2022, putting the natural growth rate at negative 0.6 per 1,000 people, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in January this year. China’s concern at present is not simply a declining population, which was accentuated by the decades-old one Child, scrapped in 2016 but a rapidly ageing population. As per the revised policy, Chinese could have three children. China has been facing a rapidly ageing population due to its previous one-child policy, which was implemented in 1979 and scrapped in 2016. The policy led to a decline in birth rates, resulting in an ageing population and a shrinking workforce. In response to these challenges, China has implemented a series of measures, including the revised policy allowing Chinese families to have up to three children. However, it remains to be seen how effective these measures will be in addressing China’s demographic challenges.