For demographic balance, boosting birth rate de rigueur

CHINA'S WORKING AGE population, namely people aged between 15 and 59, reached its peak in 2010, said Cai Fang, vice-president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in a recent speech. Beijing News commented on Thursday:

If China's working age population peaked in 2010, it means the country's demographic dividend has been waning ever since.

The demographic dividend guaranteed a sufficient, cheap labor supply, allowing Chinese enterprises, particularly those in the labor-intensive industries, to be competitive in the global markets.