On a related note, while some may think that this is a consequence of China's one-child policy, a reasonable argument can be made that the policy was actually completely unnecessary: the fertility rates had already started plummeting for the 15 years prior to it being announced due to urbanization and other factors:

* https://www.stlouisfed.org/on-the-economy/2016/october/china...

* http://blogs.reuters.com/data-dive/2013/11/18/chinas-one-chi...

> the fertility rates had already started plummeting for the 15 years prior to it being announced

Another article supporting this statement, on Chinese demography [1][2]. You may find it interesting.

[1]: https://noahpinion.substack.com/p/chinese-demography

[2]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25558016

> How do China's ambitions stack up with their upcoming demographic changes?

Personal take: As long as Xi is in power, China’s ambitions are unlikely to scale back (at least on the surface), for otherwise it would be his failures.

For example, after Xi set the goal to clear poverty in China by 2020, even after COVID, China did not give up on the goal, ignoring if achieving the goal on surface is sustainable:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/31/world/asia/china-poverty-...