{
  "id": 13910327,
  "title": "Will China Shrink to 320 Million People?",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/12/will-china-shrink-to-320-million-people",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-10-12T08:30:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Newsweek",
    "slug": "newsweek",
    "url": "https://www.newsweek.com/will-china-shrink-to-320-million-people-12553792"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Could there really be just 320 million Chinese by 2100? It seems impossible, given that the current population is 1.4 billion. But independent demographer Fuxian Yi projects a significantly smaller number. Yi, a senior scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, argues that official Chinese population figures are overstated by about 130 million people. Based on current fertility trends and the end of the one-child policy, he believes China's population could fall to 320 million by the year 2100. This prediction, published in the Contemporary China Review, challenges the widely accepted projections of China's future population. Despite the U.N.'s downward adjustments over the years, Yi maintains that the figures are still too optimistic. The implications of such a drastic population decline are vast, affecting China's economic, social, defense, and foreign policies.",
  "summary": "A missile expert set a population policy. It backfired.",
  "key_points": [
    "Independent demographer Fuxian Yi predicts China's population to shrink to 320 million by 2100.",
    "Yi claims official Chinese population figures are overstated by about 130 million people."
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}