Image copyrightGetty ImagesImage caption China relaxed its one-child policy in 2015 to combat an ageing population China's population will peak in 2029 at 1.44 billion before beginning a period of "unstoppable" decline, a government report says.
The China Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) study says the country must implement policies to handle a smaller workforce and an older population.Both changes combined could cause "very unfavourable social and economic consequences", the report says.
Latest UN estimates say China has a population of 1.41 billion.In 2015 the world's most populous country ended its one-child policy in a bid to tackle the problems.The study appears in CASS's Green Book of Population and Labour.Working population numbers were now stagnating, it said, with a low fertility rate set to cause further issues.By the middle of the century, China's population is expected to drop to 1.36 billion - a fall in the labour force of close to 200 million.
If fertility rates stay low, the population could drop as low as 1.17 billion by 2065.The study also predicted a rise in the dependency rate, meaning the proportion of non-working people like the elderly and children.While relaxing the one-child policy will help long-term, in the short term it will create more dependents, according to the report.Previous forecasts reportedly suggest China's elderly population could hit 400 million by 2035, up from 240 million in 2017.