Geopolitical expert feels China could be the first country to get old before it gets rich

"The implications are profound. First, China has invested much of its national status and political standing in the fact that it’s the world’s most populous country. But it’s now on track to be overtaken by India within a few years," Peter Hartcher wrote in his opinion piece published in The Sydney Morning Herald.

Second, China’s accelerated ageing will restrain its economic growth. One of the key reasons behind China’s superfast growth of the past 40 years has been its “demographic dividend”, the fact that its working age population hugely outnumbered retirees. That’s going to exhaust itself by the end of the decade, according to the People’s Bank of China, he wrote.

The senior editor also opined that China is still expected to overtake the US to become the world’s biggest economy, but it might not hold that distinction for very long.

"The average population age can be kept young by simply admitting more young immigrants. China doesn’t have that option. The Chinese Communist Party is increasingly suspicious of immigrants and Xi’s treatment of ethnic minorities like the Uighurs and Tibetans is hardly reassuring to potential immigrants," he wrote.