China’s population falls; UK government blocks Scottish gender bill
Today’s global news summary brings news affecting China, the UK, and the globe and discusses issues as diverse as population decline, trans rights, and extreme wealth and poverty.
- China: China’s population fell for the first time in 60 years
- UK: UK government to block Scottish gender bill
- World: The richest 1% have captured nearly two-thirds of all new wealth since 2020
China’s population fell for the first time in 60 years
Demography, family, and gender
A reduction in population numbers in China marks what is expected to be a long period of population decline, reports the Guardian. The National Bureau of Statistics reported a drop of 850,000 people from 2021 to 2022. In recent years the Chinese government has tried to encourage people to have more children, by easing the financial and social burdens of raising them. However, decades of the one-child policy and rising living costs mean that couples are resistant to having families. The head of the National Bureau of Statistics said that labor supply is still exceeding demand and urged people not to worry about the population decline. Commenters on the social media platform Weibo said that until the social pressures driving the low birth rate—house prices, welfare, education, health care—are addressed then people will continue to avoid having children.
“In 1979, the Chinese government formally initiated the [one child policy] to alleviate social, economic, and environmental problems such as the high unemployment rate and scarcity of land resources,” writes Wei Huang for IZA World of Labor. As well as having possibly increased human capital accumulation in China, the policy “also brought with it problems, such as an unbalanced sex ratio, increased crime, and individual dissatisfaction toward the government.”
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UK government to block Scotland’s gender bill
Demography, family, and gender
The UK government is to block a Scottish bill—the Gender Recognition Bill—which aims to make it easier for people to change their legal gender. The government has never previously blocked a Scottish bill on the basis it may have a negative impact on UK law. The bill, which passed by 86 votes to 39 in the Scottish parliament in December 2022, would streamline the process in Scotland for changing legal gender, reports the BBC. The age at which someone can legally change their gender would fall to 16 from 18, applicants would no longer require a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria, and they would only need to live as that gender for three months (six months if aged 16 or 17) before applying, rather than the current two years. Scottish ministers have said they intend to defend what the Scottish parliament has approved.
“Trans issues have only recently become part of the ethical discourse and global patterns suggest that workplace behaviors are yet to adapt. However, an increasing section of society identifying as trans and gender non-conforming make swift adaptation imperative. An active trans population enjoying equal treatment in the labor market will be better able to help build the social and economic capital of their countries,” writes Nick Drydakis in his IZA World of Labor article.
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The richest 1% have captured nearly two-thirds of all new wealth since 2020
Labor markets and institutions
In a report published on the opening day of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Oxfam detail how over the past two years global wealth has been captured by the super-rich. During the Covid-19 pandemic and the following cost of living crisis, the richest 1% captured 63% of all new wealth. A billionaire gained roughly $1.7 million dollars for every $1 of new global wealth earned by someone in the bottom 90%. At least 1.7 billion workers currently live in countries where inflation is outpacing wages, and roughly one in every ten people on Earth is going hungry. The World Bank says we are likely seeing the biggest increase in global inequality and poverty since World War II. Oxfam suggests that “A tax of up to 5% on the world’s multi-millionaires and billionaires could raise $1.7 trillion a year, enough to lift 2 billion people out of poverty, and fund a global plan to end hunger.”
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