Op-Ed - Breaking the Double-Standard Lens on China's Population Shifts

Author: *Dou Hongyu

(Pachodo.org) - Falling birth rates and population aging are among the defining demographic trends of our time. Yet similar demographic trends are often framed differently depending on where they occur. In Western countries, falling birth rates and aging populations are frequently discussed in terms of personal choice, social adaptation and emerging opportunities. When the same trends unfold in China, however, mainstream Western media often emphasize crisis, decline and state pressure.

This contrast can distort the picture, overlooking China's efforts to adapt. A more balanced, evidence-based view is needed.

Falling birth rates: Crisis or opportunity for adaptation?

Consider how falling birth rates are covered. In 2023, Vox released a video titled "Why China's population is shrinking," followed by the subtitle, "And why that's a big deal." The video framed China's declining population as a demographic crisis, linking it to aging, labor shortages, and economic pressure¹.

Yet when reporting on record-low birth rates in the United States, Vox took a different approach. Its article, titled "Falling birth rates don't have to be a crisis," explored how schools, housing and elder-care systems could adapt to a smaller number of births. Rather than treating demographic decline as an inevitable disaster, it argued that the United States could "age gracefully."²

Population size alone doesn't determine a country's future. Human capital, productivity and technological innovation matter, too. China is moving from a traditional, quantity-based demographic dividend toward a talent-driven one. Its expanding higher-education system is part of that transition: In 2025, 61.3% of young Chinese were enrolled in higher education, five times that of the year 2000. Meanwhile, robotics and artificial intelligence are reshaping workplaces, Chinese pharmaceutical companies are expanding into international markets, and Chinese electric-vehicle makers are competing globally. These developments show that a country's future depends not only on how many people it has, but also on their ability to innovate.

Supporting families: Assistance or coercion?

The double standard becomes even more apparent in coverage of policies designed to encourage childbirth.

In the summer of 2025, The Washington Post used France as a positive example, highlighting how measures such as extended parental leave, tax credits, and free preschool can make childbearing more attractive.³ Six months later, the same newspaper covered China's efforts to encourage childbirth with a very different word, "coercion," encouraging readers to associate China's policies with pressure or force, even though many of the measures are similar to the ones used in France.⁴

To examine whether China is really forcing people to have children, we need to look at the policies themselves. Since 2025, the country has introduced a nationwide childcare subsidy of 3,600 yuan per child per year for children under three. It has also expanded childcare tax deductions, strengthened maternity-insurance coverage, introduced or expanded parental leave, and more.

The goal is clear. It is not to force families to have more children, but to remove barriers for those who choose to have them. The standard for judging such policies should not be which country introduces them, but what the policies actually do.

Population aging: Economic burden or emerging market?

The same pattern appears in coverage of population aging, which brings real economic and social pressures but also creates demand for new products, services and technologies. But we are sometimes shown only one side of the coin.

Reuters, for example, has reported how Japan is using robots to address shortages of care workers⁵ and how labor shortages are driving investment in technology and innovation.⁶  But in its coverage of China, Reuters has linked population aging to "innovation woes" and concerns about economic growth.⁷

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has similarly explored how rising demand for healthcare and aged care is expanding Australia's care economy.⁸  Yet its coverage of China has focused on how an aging population could weigh on consumption and contribute to economic stagnation, with no attention to the huge market created by the needs of older consumers.⁹

The Guardian has also warned against overlooking the opportunities associated with an aging society.¹⁰  It explored how an older population could reshape workplaces, the economy and communities. Yet its own commentary on China described the country's aging population as an economic and social "conundrum," while itself overlooking the opportunities it once urged others not to ignore.¹¹

When analyzing the challenges of an aging society, the West knows to look one step further: How can society adapt? What can businesses do? And can the changing needs of the seniors create more value? Yet when reporting turns to China, this balanced perspective often disappears.

China now has more than 310 million people aged 60 and above. That represents enormous demand for home care, rehabilitation, assistive devices, healthcare, tourism and other services. The country is already seeking to turn these needs into new industries. In 2024, it issued dedicated measures to develop the silver economy, covering elderly meals, home and community care, rehabilitation equipment, smart healthcare and age-friendly renovations.

The potential market is substantial. One projection estimates that China's silver economy could reach around 19 trillion yuan, or $2.7 trillion, by 2035, equivalent to about 28 percent of total consumption and nearly 10 percent of GDP.

China's demographic transition will undoubtedly be challenging. But alongside the pressures are opportunities in human-capital development, technology, healthcare and the expanding silver economy.

That is the fuller story of China's demographic transformation. It deserves to be examined with the same nuance applied to demographic change elsewhere, not through a double-standard lens.

*Author: Dou Hongyu, reporter and global affairs commentator with China Global Television Network (CGTN).

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmehUgOy5ok

2. https://www.vox.com/health/487637/falling-birth-rates-aging-america-demographic-reality

3. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/interactive/2025/trump-baby-boom-birth-rate-declining/

4. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/01/31/china-birth-rate-crisis/

5. https://widerimage.reuters.com/story/ageing-japan-robots-role-in-future-of-elder-care

6. https://www.reuters.com/article/business/japans-aging-labor-starved-construction-industry-gives-economy-a-capex-boost-idUSKBN1XF0LW/

7. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chinas-ageing-population-threatens-switch-new-economic-growth-model-2024-01-18/

8. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-20/number-of-australians-over-85-set-to-triple-in-40-years/102753070

9. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-27/chinas-aging-population-is-saving-towards-economic-stagnation/106270300

10. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/dec/25/concerns-ageing-society-ignore-opportunities-says-population-expert

11. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/sep/18/the-guardian-view-on-chinas-ageing-population-an-economic-and-social-conundrum