Erudite Risk’s Post

After three decades selling homemade buns on the streets of the Chinese city of Xian, 67-year-old Hu Dexi would have liked to slow down. Instead, Hu and his older wife have moved to the edge of Beijing, where they wake at 4 a.m. every day to cook their packed lunch, then commute for more than an hour to a downtown shopping mall, where they each earn 4,000 yuan ($552) monthly, working 13-hour shifts as cleaners. The alternative for them and many of the 100 million rural migrants reaching retirement age in China over the next 10 years is to return to their village and live off a small farm and monthly pensions of 123 yuan ($17). "No one can look after us," said Hu, still mopping the floor. "I don't want to be a burden on my two children and our country isn't giving us a penny." The generation that flocked to China's cities at the end of last century, building the infrastructure and manning the factories that made the country the world's biggest exporter, now risks a sharp late-life drop in living standards. Reuters interviewed more than a dozen people, including rural migrant workers, demographers, economists and a government adviser, who described a social security system unfit for a worsening demographic crisis, which Beijing is patching rather than overhauling as it pursues growth through industrial modernisation. At the same time, demand for social services is growing rapidly as the population ages. "The elderly in China will live a long and miserable life," said Fuxian Yi, a demographer who is also a senior scientist at University of Wisconsin-Madison. "More and more migrant workers are returning to the countryside, and some are taking low-paid jobs, which is a desperate way for them to save themselves." @reuters #reuters #china #aging #demography #population #society #people #economy #elderly #aging #demographics #government #security #jobs #employment #pension

How Can Aging China Restore Prosperity?

China's former PM Li Keqiang died from heart attack at ten past midnight on Oct 27th in Shanghai, at age of 68. Student Li (right 2), in Peking University, 1978. Li is especially known for looking out for the most ordinary people in China, his mentioning of "600 million Chinese people still make barely 1,000 RMB a month. After COVID, people's livelihood should be our priority" once triggered hot dicussions in Chinese social media, as many previleged netizens from big cities in China find it hard to believe that the nation still has such poverty. Some of his work on China's social protection include: - Healthcare Reform: Li Keqiang played a significant role in expanding and improving China's healthcare system. He worked on increasing access to healthcare services, reducing the cost of healthcare, and implementing initiatives such as the New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme (NRCMS) to provide basic health insurance coverage to rural residents. - Urbanization: He promoted urbanization policies to improve living conditions for urban residents and provide better social services and protections to those moving from rural areas to cities. - Social Safety Nets: Li Keqiang worked on strengthening China's social safety nets, including unemployment insurance, pensions, and social assistance programs, to provide a safety net for Chinese citizens in times of need. - Labor Rights: His administration supported workers' rights and took measures to improve labor conditions, including raising the minimum wage and addressing labor disputes. While China is advancing its green transformation, the country should not ignore the social aspect. Premier #LiKeqiang will always be remembered for his caring heart towards the Chinese people. RIP, Premier Li.

Our latest work takes a nuanced approach to understand the question of migrant health in China during a period of vulnerability. Social capital emerged as a key determinant of inequalities in #migrant #mentalhealthhealth and wellbeing. Thanks to the terrific collaboration with Sun Yat-sen University we are advancing an agenda to address migrant health and produce new knowledge about the critical role played by the social determinants of health. NYU Shanghai Global Health https://lnkd.in/gcR2WAcW

#VantageOnFirstpost Biden Claims "Xenophobia" is Hurting India's Economy | Vantage with Palki Sharma US president Joe Biden has said that xenophobia is hampering the economy of countries like India, Japan, China and Russia. Biden went on to say that immigrants and immigrant workers make the US strong. While immigration is a key political issue in the US, Biden's insult of partners like India and Japan has triggered criticism. While America's aging workforce needed migrants for stability, India is home to one of the largest and youngest workforces in the world. India is also home to the 12th largest immigrant population in the world. Did Biden make a mistake by insulting partners like Japan and India? Palki Sharma tells you. --- USA | Joe Biden | Xenophobia | India | Economy | Firstpost | World News | News Live | Vantage | Palki Sharma | News #joebiden #xenophobia #india #economy #firstpost #vantageonfirstpost #palkisharma #worldnews

While Canada is experiencing its own demographic pain, and is hardly a trove of good public policy responses from which to borrow, Koreas cultural characteristics are abetting their own crisis. As indicated, this issue had been identified decades ago, but would require massive reform of policies to have been addressed by now. In some respects, Korea has done well - proportion of non-Koreans has expanded greatly, though the welcome still seems ambivalent. But it hasn’t been systemic nor enough. Other issues - modernization of the military (in large part to address the gender divide over conscription), education reform, restructuring agriculture - seem all to have stalled. Article does not mention air quality, which has deteriorated in recent years. When I was posted in Seoul last time, at least three different parents told me that they did not want to raise their children in such an unhealthy place. It is a fraught public policy issue but the country is clearly on its back foot here, and to a greater extent than other OECD states, who have higher birth rates, relatively more flexible cultures to absorb immigration and, of course, less vulnerabilities in their military staffing. It’s friends and allies can only watch and hope for a successful and resolute policy response.

A Pew Research Center survey in 2024 examined satisfaction with democracy across 27 countries, revealing significant declines in high-income nations. The survey involved over 900 interviews in each country, conducted either by phone or face-to-face. Respondents were asked about their satisfaction levels with democracy, and the results showed notable regional differences. In Europe, Sweden had the highest satisfaction rate at 75%, while Greece had the lowest at 22%. In the Asia-Pacific region, India and Singapore showed high satisfaction rates of over 75%, in contrast to Japan's 31%. India's high satisfaction rate of 77% indicates strong confidence in the present BJP government for bringing economic prosperity to the country. Other notable findings include the United States with 31% satisfaction and 68% dissatisfaction, Canada with 52% satisfaction, and Mexico evenly split at 50%. South American countries like Brazil and Argentina had similar dissatisfaction rates, around 54-55%, while Peru had a high dissatisfaction rate of 89%. Overall, the data highlights a trend of declining satisfaction with democracy, particularly in wealthier nations, raising concerns about the future stability and functionality of democratic systems worldwide. #DemocracySurvey #GlobalSatisfaction #PoliticalTrends #DemocracyDecline #PewResearch #HighIncomeNations #PublicOpinion #RegionalDifferences #DemocracyInCrisis #PoliticalSatisfaction #GlobalPolitics #SurveyResults

Japan's economy faces a pivotal shift, moving from decades of stagnation to signs of growth. Amidst a labor shortage exacerbated by an aging population, the government implements measures to ensure employment for seniors up to 70. This includes retraining for the digital age, focusing on leveraging the experience of the aging workforce. #JapanEconomy #AgingWorkforce #LaborShortage #DigitalRetraining #SMEChallenges

China is going to have further problems down the road as the growth rate in the population will slow and they will have less younger workers to take care of the older population. Just three years ago the average number of children born to a Chinese woman was 1.3. Today that number has dropped to 1.09. This is well below Japan’s level of 1.26. We are doing far better here in the United States with an average 1.8 children born to a US woman. This will help United States continue to grow long-term. #chinasgrowthrate #chinapopulation #populationgrowth #youngerpopulation #olderpopulation #china #japanpopulationlevel #uspopulationgrowth

China is going to have further problems down the road as the growth rate in the population will slow and they will have less younger workers to take care of the older population. Just three years ago the average number of children born to a Chinese woman was 1.3. Today that number has dropped to 1.09. This is well below Japan’s level of 1.26. We are doing far better here in the United States with an average 1.8 children born to a US woman. This will help United States continue to grow long-term. #chinasgrowthrate #chinapopulation #populationgrowth #youngerpopulation #olderpopulation #china #japanpopulationlevel #uspopulationgrowth