Population to peak in 2025

A lower-than-expected fertility rate means China's population will peak in 2025, something the country's leadership will have to seriously consider when drawing up its forthcoming national development blueprint, said a senior Chinese demographic expert in Brussels.

China's population is expected to peak at 1.41 billion in 2025 and the total population in 2050 will be much lower than it is today, said Zhang Juwei, director of the Institute of Population and Labor Economics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

"These projections are part of the background reports we submitted for China's leadership to consider when it designs its new national five-year plan," said Zhang, who headed a team of Chinese experts holding exchanges with their European counterparts at a two-day seminar on economic restructuring and changing employment structures in Brussels on Monday and Tuesday.