Xi Jinping weighs pros and cons of China’s shrinking population

China’s shrinking population brings both negative and positive effects, President Xi Jinping has said, noting that a lighter environmental burden is among the benefits of a smaller population.

He made the speech in May last year but the excerpts were published for the first time on Friday in Qiushi, the Communist Party’s top theoretical journal.

The impact of population decline “must be viewed in a dialectical manner”, Xi told commission officials.

The drop could bring positive effects, he said, such as “easing pressure on resources and the environment” as well as forcing economic development.