Economy: China tries to stabilize its growth

At the end of last year, Chinese growth was faltering by 4%. “China had a mixed year 2021 economically. While it grew by 18.5% in the first quarter, it then saw a drop of almost 5% in the third quarter”, explains Yoann Giammetta – D’angelo on the 23h set of franceinfo. “This is due to supply difficulties, soaring commodity prices and an anti-Covid policy which comes at a cost. Even so, China’s annual growth was 8.1% in 2021 , a record for a decade”, he points out.

This gloom is reflected in particular by the decline in the birth rate. “This is the 5th consecutive year that the birth rate has fallen. In 2021, there were 7.2 births per 1,000 people, 1 point less than the previous year. This is the lowest level recorded for more than forty years, indicates Yoann Giammetta – D’angelo. The rate of natural increase was 0.34 in 2021 against 1.45 in 2000. The Chinese population is no longer increasing, becoming “increasingly aging” and less and less active“. “What can explain this drop is the cost of living, especially housing and education costs. Because of the one-child policy there are more men, but the government is trying to ‘invert the curve through the end of this measurement’, he concludes.