China’s collapsing birth and marriage rates reflect a people’s deep pessimism

This is a fluff piece catering to the prejudices of a data illiterate audience. It makes a big fuss about a 46% decline in births (absolute, not birth rates) and marriages in the last 6 years, and tries to correlate this to the dystopian Xi regime. But it neglects to mention that in the same time frame, the number of young women entering their early 20s declined by 44% [1], a result of big huge plunge in births starting in the early 1990s.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_China

Saying "China" is probably good for the WP's bottom line and editorial agenda.

But the same principal applies everywhere. (As the story briefly admits.)

I kinda reflect on this situation to Korea. I mean, their birth and marriage rates really did strike the lowest these years.