Working-age population plummets

China's working-age population saw its largest decline in modern China's history in 2015, a trend that worried demographers and economists.

Defined as people between 16 to 60, the working-age population fell by a record 4.87 million, more than the population of Ireland, to 911 million, sharper than 2014's fall of 3.71 million, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Declining birthrates have produced repeated slumps in the working-age population since 2012. In 2011, the group－defined then as those 15 to 59 years old－totaled 941 million, or 69.8 percent of the population. By the end of 2015, it had dwindled to 66.3 percent.