HONG KONG—China’s latest economic data showed that the country’s zero-Covid policies led to one of the slowest growth rates in decades last year. But economists say another figure released the same day will be a bigger problem for China’s economy in the future: Its shrinking population.
China has already rolled back the zero-Covid policies that restrained growth for much of 2022, setting the stage for a recovery this year. The U-turn on its pandemic policies was part of a broad policy reset aimed at boosting the economy, including an easing of regulations on the property sector and signals that the clampdown on the tech sector has ended.
