China’s population has began to shrink. On December 10th the Chinese government announced that 9.56 million people were born in China last year, while 10.41 million people died. This was the first time deaths outnumbered births in 60 years! It was reported that Chinese officials have been trying to stop the arrival of this event by loosening their one-child policy, a policy restricting how many kids a family can have, and even encouraging people to have more children. With the increasing life expectancy and lower birth rates, Chinese officials are worried they won’t have enough people in the working class to keep up with workforce demands. This could be devastating for not just China, but the whole world.