China: Too Old to Get Rich?

China faces an unprecedented demographic crisis as the long-term consequences of the One Child Policy collide with rapid economic development. Shanghai, the nation’s most rapidly aging metropolis, serves as a microcosm for this shift, where a shrinking youth population struggles to support a ballooning elderly demographic. This transition threatens the country’s economic model, which has historically relied on a vast supply of cheap, young migrant labor. While authorities have begun loosening birth restrictions to mitigate the labor shortage, cultural shifts and the high cost of raising children mean many families remain hesitant to expand. Consequently, millions of elderly citizens face inadequate state welfare, limited access to professional care, and the social stigma surrounding conditions like dementia, leaving the nation racing to adapt its infrastructure and social support systems before the population becomes "old before it is rich."