RE: increase in life expectancy means there will soon be too few workers able to support an enormous and aging population.
OK, there’s an assumption here which I’m not sure is valid... if this becomes an irreversible problem, why would an atheistic, utilitarian government bother to support the aging population? Why not just let them die off?
“Why not just let them die off?”
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There is a cultural veneration for ancestors. But it is expensive to feed and house the elderly that are no longer productive.
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Today’s Chinese elderly are living much longer than say even 20 years ago.
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Many fertile young women have new economic options and aren’t having kids. The one child policy ended years ago but the birth rate continues to drop.