Writing at National Interest, Gordon Chang looks at China’s official vs. presumed actual population figures and reaches a startling conclusion.
China this century is on track to experience history’s most dramatic demographic collapse in the absence of war or disease. Today, the country has a population more than four times larger than America’s. By 2100, the U.S. will probably have more people than China.
It’s not that Chang expects our population to explode, but rather that China’s population will implode. It could explain why China’s leaders seem to be in a hurry to establish regional hegemony. While they can still staff a large military with young bodies.
