UK to probe PM’S flat revamp
collating data began, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
The two-child policy implemented from 2016 has failed to make an impact on the low birth rates.
Speaking to Global Times, Huang Wenzheng, a demography expert from the Beijingbased think-tank Centre for China and Globalisation, said that the narrowing gap between newborns and deaths indicated that the capital city may see more deaths than newborns starting 2022, or a natural negative growth in population.
Huang said that would impede the capital’s economic development.
“…Beijing’s figures indicated that China’s total population will soon start to decline, which may come before 2027.”
“A soon-to-decline population is predicted by demographers, which would allow India to replace China as the world’s most populous country, perhaps in 2022, if not this year,” Huang said.
That would be earlier than the prediction of a 2017 UN report, which said that India’s population will surpass China’s by 2024. The UN says India has a population of 1.39 billion.
LONDON: The UK’S electoral commission opened a formal probe into the financing of the refurbishment of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Downing Street apartment, saying there were grounds to suspect an offence may have been committed.
Eight days before local elections in England, as well as election of Welsh and Scottish regional assemblies, Johnson is facing charges about everything from his initial handling of the pandemic to questions about who leaked what from his office.
“We are now satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to suspect that an offence or offences may have occurred,” the electoral commission said.
The investigation will determine whether any transactions relating to the works at 11 Downing Street fall within the regime regulated by the commission and whether such funding was reported as required.
THE NUMBER OF BABIES BORN IN CHINA FELL BY 580,000 TO 14.65 MILLION IN 2019 AND THE BIRTH RATE OF 10.48 PER THOUSAND WAS THE LOWEST SINCE 1949,, ACCORDING TO THE NATIONAL BUREAU OF STATISTICS