Demographics at Work

China does the demographics math:

China's National Committee on Aging has said that China's current ratio of six people in the workforce for each retiree could narrow to two-to-one between 2030 and 2050, posing big challenges to the country's labor market, Reuters reported, citing state media. "With fewer people of working age and more pressure in supporting the elderly, the economy will suffer if productivity sees no major progress," said Yan Qingchun, deputy director of the Committee. China's aging popultion is growing at 3.2% per year - five times the total population growth rate - and the country's elderly population is expected to exceed 400 million by 2050.

China has two things going for it. Productivity will improve, and it currently offers almost no social benefits to speak of. As long as those 2 working people are willing to support one elderly retired person, they're ok.

But times are changing here. Youth, once committed to supporting their parents in their old age, are becoming westernized in their thinking. They don't want their parents living with them, and they'd rather by a new Buick than pay for mom's arthritis medicine. The government might want to rethink that one child policy.