"As China announced on Monday that its birthrate plummeted for a fifth straight year in 2021, the world’s most populous country moved closer to the potentially seismic moment when its population will begin to shrink, hastening a looming demographic crisis that could undermine the country’s economic vitality and even its political stability."

"The demographic crisis, a challenge to the economy, also signals a limit to the reach of the government, which has struggled recently to grow the population."