Date: Wednesday 25 May 2022
Time: 9.00am-10.00am AEST
Location: Online event
About the event:
As with the rest of East Asia, China faces a massive demographic challenge. The contours are well known. Once young, China is growing old. Fast.
The working age population peaked in the early 2010s and will continually decline from here on out. China’s total population could start to decline as early as next year – following in the footsteps of Taiwan and South Korea.
Official projections suggest the share of China’s population 65 years and older will triple between 2015 and 2050, when over 25% of the population will be over 65. But current birth statistics now suggest China’s aging process will actually be far more rapid than currently expected, with over a third of the population entering old age by mid-century.
All of this will fuel increasing social pressures – including underfunded pensions, tight labor markets, and eldercare for the rural population.
How will Beijing respond? What lessons might be drawn from the experiences of China’s East Asian neighbors? And what will be the impact of this sweeping transition on Chinese politics and society, particularly under the current trajectory being charted by Xi Jinping.
About the speakers:
Carl Minzner is senior fellow for China studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). He is also a professor at Fordham Law School, specializing in Chinese politics and law. He is the author of End of an Era: How China’s Authoritarian Revival Is Undermining Its Rise (Oxford University Press, 2018).
Vivienne Bath (Chair) : Professor of Chinese and International Business Law at the Sydney Law School. Professor Bath’s teaching and research interests are in international business and economic law, private international law, and Chinese law. She has extensive professional experience in Sydney, New York, and Hong Kong, specialising in international commercial law, with a focus on foreign investment and commercial transactions in China and the Asian region.