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In 2022, for the first time in six decades, China's population shrank by 850,000 people, and it doesn't look like a blip but a trend.
在2022年，中国出现了近60年来首次人口负增长，人口总量共计减少了85万人，这看起来不像是短暂性现象，而是一种趋势。
Now demographers have seen it coming.
人口统计学家已经作出了预见。
Last year, for example, there were more deaths in China than births, and the birth rate itself is now as low as it's been since records began.
举例来说，去年中国的死亡人数超过了出生人数，而出生率本身也处于有记录以来的最低水平。
In fact, incredibly, it's even lower than in the 80s and 90s when China had an official one-child per family policy.
事实上，令人难以置信的是，这一数字甚至比中国在上世纪八九十年代实行独生子女政策时还要低。
Now that was scrapped in 2016, and Chinese couples can have two children now.
2016年，该政策被废除，中国每对夫妇现在可以生两个孩子。
But the number of birth has continued to fall anyway.
但出生率依旧在持续下降。
Various things are responsible, young people put off having children these past few years.
由于各种原因，年轻人在过去几年推迟了要孩子的计划。
The diminishing population has huge implications.
而人口的减少也会产生巨大的影响。
There will be fewer young productive Chinese workers to look after and pay for a growing number of old people and their medical care.
中国将会面临数量更少的富有生产力的年轻劳动力，来照顾越来越多的老年人并支付其医疗费用的局面。
Finally it looks as if China is about to lose its title as the world's most populous country.
最后，预计中国即将失去“世界上人口最多国家”这一头衔。
The United Nations predicts that India, with 1.4 billion people, will take the lead sometime early in 2023.
联合国预测，拥有14亿人口的印度将在2023年初的某个时间点成为世界上人口最多的国家。
