U.K News

China Records 1st Population Drop In Decades As Births Fall

Published

2 years ago

2023-01-17

BEIJING, China — China’s population went down for the first time in a long time last year as its birthrate fell, according to official figures released Tuesday, putting additional pressure on leaders to keep the economy growing despite an aging workforce and rising tensions with the United States.

Despite official figures, some experts believe China‘s population has been declining for several years — a dramatic shift in a country that once attempted to control population growth through a one-child policy.

Many wealthy countries are trying to figure out what to do about their aging workforces, which can slow down economic growth. Some experts think it will be especially hard for a developing economy like China to deal with this demographic shift.

“China had gotten older before it got rich,” Yi Fuxian, a demographer and expert on Chinese population, said.

China Had 850,000 Fewer People in 2022

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the country had 850,000 fewer people in 2022 than the previous year. The number only includes people who live in mainland China. It does not include people who live in Hong Kong, Macao, or other countries.

Official numbers show that over 1 million fewer babies were born than the year before. This was because the economy was slowing, and widespread pandemic lockdowns existed. In 2022, the bureau reported 9.56 million births and 10.41 million deaths.

It was unclear whether the covid 19 outbreak influenced the population figures. Some experts say China is underreporting deaths from the virus by saying other things caused them. However, no estimates of how many people have died have been made public.

Yi says that China’s population has started to drop nine to ten years earlier than Chinese officials and the UN thought it would. The country has long been the world’s most populous, but it is expected to be surpassed by India soon, if not already.

Ending The One Child Policy Has Increased It Only Slightly

Since the end of the one-child policy in 2016, China has sought to increase its population. Since then, China has tried, with limited success, to encourage families to have second, mirroring attitudes in much of East Asia, where birth rates have fallen precipitously. The cost of raising children in cities is frequently cited as a cause in China.

Yi’s research shows that China’s population has decreased since 2018. This means that the population crisis is “much worse” than was thought before. According to him, China now has one of the world’s lowest fertility rates, second only to Taiwan and South Korea.

That means China’s “true demographic crisis is beyond imagination” and that “all of China’s previous economic, social, defense, and foreign policies were based on faulty demographic data,” according to Yi.

Yi says that China’s coming economic crisis will be worse than Japan’s, partly blamed on a shrinking population.

China’s Latest Decline Caused By ‘The Great Leap Forward’

Aside from demographic challenges, China is increasingly competing economically with the United States, which has restricted access to American technology for some Chinese companies, citing national security and fair competition concerns.

The last population decline in China is thought to have occurred during the Great Leap Forward.

According to China’s statistics bureau, there were 875.56 million people between the ages of 16 and 59 who were working-age, making up 62% of the country’s population. There were 209.78 million people 65 and older, making up 14.9% of the total.

According to Stuart Gietel-Basten, professor of social science at Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi, a declining population does not always imply a weaker economy.

“It’s a major psychological problem. “Perhaps the largest,” Gietel-Basten said.

Women Still OutNumber Men

According to statistics bureau data, men outnumbered women by 722.06 million to 689.69 million, owing to the one-child policy.

The figures also showed an increase in urbanization in a traditionally rural country. The permanent urban population will increase by 6.46 million to 920.71 million, or 65.22%, by 2022.

Last year, the United Nations estimated that the world’s population reached 8 billion, and that India will overtake China as the world’s most populous country in 2023. The last census in India was scheduled for 2022 but was pushed back due to the pandemic.

The United Nations said in a report released on World Population Day that global population growth will fall below 1% in 2020 for the first time since 1950.

Also on Tuesday, the statistics bureau released data showing that China’s economic growth slowed to the second-lowest level in at least four decades last year, owing to anti-virus controls and a real estate slump.

Economy Only Grew By 3%

According to the data, the world’s second-largest economy grew by 3% in 2022, less than half of the previous year’s 8.1%.

Gietel-Basten said that China has been adapting to changes in its population for years by making policies to move its economic activities up the value chain of innovation. He used the growth of the semiconductor manufacturing industry and the financial services industry as examples.

“India’s population is much younger and growing. But there are many reasons you wouldn’t bet your entire fortune on India overtaking China economically shortly,” he said.

Among India’s many challenges is a much lower level of female labor-force participation than in China, according to Gietel-Basten.

“Whatever population you have, it’s not what you have but what you do with it… to some extent,” he said.

SOURCE – (AP)

U.K News

Keir Starmer Rejects Meeting With WW2 Veteran Over Her Frozen Pension

Published

2 weeks ago

2024-12-04

Geoff Brown

"It's the injustice of it that is so unfair, the fact that we were never warned."

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has rejected a request from a 99-year-old WW2 for a meeting to discuss the frozen state pension policy for citizens living abroad. Starmer declined the meeting but offered an alternative meeting with Pensions Minister Emma Reynolds.

Anne Puckridge, who turns 100 this month, went from her home in Canada to agitate Keir Starmer’s Labour government over the state pension freeze.

The World War II veteran told the BBC that she is “angry” and “heartbroken” following a meeting with the pensions minister, who led her to believe that the government will not reconsider its policy of freezing the state pensions of some British people living abroad.

Anne Puckridge is one of approximately 453,000 British retirees living overseas who do not receive an annual increase in their state pension.

Pensions Minister Emma Reynolds agreed to a meeting after Sir Keir Starmer’s request to meet was denied owing to purported “pressures on his diary.”

Ms. Puckridge stated that the meeting in Parliament left her feeling “bitterly disappointed” and “disgusted”.

She stated that she had the idea Reynolds had been “polite enough and kind enough to come in and spend her time with her,” but that her mind had already been made up before the meeting began.

Ms Puckridge stated that she and her other campaigners would have to think carefully about what they could do from now on, but she assured them that they would take action.

State Pension Minister Reynolds thanked Ms Puckridge for the meeting and for sharing her insights.

A Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) representative stated that the government recognizes that “people move abroad for various reasons, and we provide clear information on how this can affect their pensions.”

The policy of increasing the UK state pension for recipients living abroad has existed for many years.

Since she relocated to Canada in 2001 at the age of 76 to live closer to her daughter, Ms Puckridge has received £72.50 (C$129.00) per week.

Her state pension is now less than half the £169.50 (C$302.00) paid to seniors still residing in the United Kingdom. She told the BBC that frozen pensions touch all aspects of life.

“You’ve got to be careful about entertainment,” she told me. “You must realize that you cannot be as kind to your grandkids as you would like.

“You feel you’ve lost all sense of dignity, the government has thrown you away, you know, out of sight out of mind.”

Ms. Puckridge stated that when she alerted the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) that she was moving to Canada, “they never said a word about [my] pension being frozen”.

“The first I knew about it was when my first rise was due,” she recalled.

“I didn’t understand it. So I wrote and enquired about it, and I was told no… you will not receive any additional pension rises when you leave the UK.” She said, “It’s the injustice of it that is so unfair, the fact that we were never warned.”

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U.K News

Air Force Drones Spotted Over UK Military Bases

Published

3 weeks ago

2024-11-29

Geoff Brown

The drones were not considered hostile, the USAF said,

British military expertise has been brought in to assist in identifying persons responsible for flying Air Force drones near US military locations. According to the BBC, 60 RAF troops have been dispatched to assist the US Air Force with its probe.

The Air Force drones were not deemed hostile, according to the USAF, who added that the sightings “fluctuated and varied between the bases” and “ranged in sizes and configurations”.

According to the Ministry of Defence, “We are supporting the US Air Force response.”

The announcement follows several recent reports of unmanned aerial vehicles sighted near RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk and RAF Feltwell in adjacent Norfolk.

There have been other reports of drone activity overnight. According to the USAF, the vehicles were few in number and modest in size.

A representative for the US Air Forces in Europe stated, “We can confirm that there were sightings yesterday during nighttime hours, but the number fluctuated and varied between the bases throughout the night.”

The official stated that since the first sightings on November 20th, there has been “no impact on residents or infrastructure, and they have not been identified as hostile.”

However, the Air Force drones remained under surveillance “to ensure the safety and security of the installations.”

They said, “We request individuals in the area to contact either local police or security forces if they see anything suspicious.”

‘Treat threats seriously’

Officials in the United States and the United Kingdom have not said who is responsible for the recent drone activity.

However, the BBC understands there were worries that a state actor could be involved.

In recent months, intelligence officials have warned of increasing Russian sabotage operations against Western countries supporting Ukraine.

RAF Mildenhall is primarily home to the USAF’s 100th Air Refuelling Wing; RAF Lakenheath is home to USAF F-35A and F-15E fighter jets; and RAF Feltwell is mainly concerned with logistics and provides housing for military personnel.

A spokesman for the MoD, which owns the bases, said: “We take threats seriously and maintain robust measures at defence sites.

“We are supporting the US Air Force response.”

The USAF has not said who it believed to be behind the incidents.

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U.K News

General Election Petition in UK Hits 2 Million Signatures

Published

4 weeks ago

2024-11-26

Geoff Brown

Starmer has ruled out an general election after a petition reached two million signatures

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has ruled out holding an early general election after a petition calling for a second vote garnered two million signatures.

Over the weekend, a petition calling for another general election was started on the UK Parliament website. It cited Starmer’s failure to keep all his pledges made in the run-up to the previous election. By Monday mid-morning, it had surpassed two million signatures.

When asked about the petition, Starmer said he was “not surprised” that some individuals who did not vote for Labour in the previous election want a “re-run” of the poll.

He claimed that he had “inherited a lot of problems” from the previous administration and had resolved to “take the hard decisions first.”

Starmer ruled out an early general election, stating that only the Prime Minister can request that the King call a general election; it simply will not happen, he said.

This petition, started last week and sponsored by Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, calls on the government to schedule a new general election.
To sign a petition, you must verify that you are a British citizen or resident and provide a postcode.

The petition states, “I would prefer there to be another general election. I believe the present Labour government has broken the pledges they made before the last election.”

The petition comes only five months after Labour won the July general election with 9.7 million votes and 412 seats in the House of Commons.

However, the Labour Party garnered only 35% of the vote, the lowest percentage gained by a single-party administration since the conclusion of WWII.

Some of the policies implemented by Starmer and his Labour government have received significant criticism, including an inheritance tax on farms, a reduction in winter heating payments, an increase in employers’ national insurance, and applying VAT to private school fees.

According to the most recent Ipsos political pulse poll, the Labour Party is unpopular, with 28% of the public favoring it and 49% opposing it.