人口紅利消失？中國人口成長速度近幾十年來最慢China’s population grows at its slowest pace in decades

According to recently released government data, China’s population is growing at its slowest pace in decades. About 12 million babies were born last year, which is a significant drop from the 18 million newborns in 2016.

In 2016, China ended its controversial one-child policy and allowed couples to have two children. However, despite a two-year increase immediately afterwards, it failed to reverse the declining birth rate.

Since China has become the world’s factory, experts warned that any impact on China’s population, such as a decline, could have a huge impact on the rest of the world.

友善讓你懂｜解說：

根據最近發佈的數據，中國的人口正以近幾十年來最慢的速度在成長。去年約有 1200 萬名新生兒，與 2016 年的 1800 萬名新生兒相比，明顯降低許多。

2016 年中國宣布高爭議的一胎化政策劃下終點，開始允許夫妻生育兩名以上孩子。政策上路後，雖然在接下來兩年有成長，但後期依舊沒有扭轉出生率不斷下探的趨勢。

由於中國已然是「世界工廠」，因此專家警告，如果中國的人口有任何變化（例如：成長率降低），都可能對世界其他地區造成巨大影響。

輕鬆帶著走｜學習：

world’s factory 是「世界工廠」，在新聞中常見，意思是當一個地區成為其他國家各行各業主要製造地時，就宛如世界的工廠。

例句：

China has become the world’s factory because of its strong business ecosystem. 因為有強大的商業生態圈，中國已成為「世界工廠」。

本篇其他相關單字：

• controversial (adj.) 有爭議的
• one-child policy 一胎化政策
• afterwards (adv.) 隨後、之後
• reverse (v.) 推翻、改變、扭轉
• decline (n.) 衰退（也可以作為動詞）