ABSTRACT

Since the 1970s, the implementation of family planning policy and associated rapid fertility decline in China has received considerable attention, both within the country and internationally. As one of the main results of fertility decline over a very short period and with the fertility rate now at a relatively low level today, a new challenge is emerging in China, the ageing of its population. As an echo of the rapid fertility decline of last two decades, it is projected that there will be an accelerating period of population ageing in the near future.