Silver clouds on the horizon for the U.S.

摘要

A late-August report from the nonpartisan Population Reference Bureau had good news for the United States. The United States, it turns out, is the only major economic power that is producing enough children to keep the size of its work force constant relative to the size of its population as that population ages. That portends continued prosperity for the United States, the annual report concluded. Meanwhile, China, which is generally seen as a significant economic threat to the economic and military supremacy of the United States, is facing a serious aging problem because of limits its government has placed on fertility as a social tool for the country's long-term benefit. Now, it appears that government policy may backfire, and give China the distinction of becoming the first large economic power to have its population grow old before it gets the opportunity to become rich - despite the country's current rapid rate of growth.