In March, Beijing approved its new five-year plan, the document that sets China’s economic course through 2030. For the first time, it includes a full chapter on the country’s shrinking population under a slogan the leadership now repeats: “invest in people.” Xi Jinping has finally acknowledged that China is running out of children. But he has not put money behind the rhetoric, and the plan he signed will not reverse the decline. The figures behind that chapter are the worst in the history of the People’s Republic. This past January, China’s National Bureau of Statistics reported 7.92 million births for 2025, fewer ... (full story)