Oops... The 2nd of the two graphs. Oops... The 2nd of the two graphs.The population structure issue in China is much more dire than the outside world acknowledges. See that widening in the final age group (0-5)? That’s as big as it gets. The baby boom caused a ripple in the 1980s, because the population of fertile women surged so much in the 1950s. In turn, it made a slight ripple just now (0-5). But that’s it. Expect that ripple to fade away.
Fertility rates by the US and UN are far more accurate than those by the Chinese, because the Chinese just announce what they anticipate fertility to be if everyone complied 100% with the 1-child policy where it is in effect. So they are correct in being much higher (1.55, for instance, instead of 1.18 at the last Chinese census.) But Chinese population estimates by the US and the UN are based simply on projected changes in the fertility rate based on moving in and out of fertile years. They don’t recognize that most Chinese women have their baby by the time they are 30, and that baby-boom echo is about to reach 30.
Some people criticize India for its strict caste system that is still in place in some respects. Still China is far from perfect either. At least, as far as I know, India doesn’t utilize prison labor to compete with US manufacturing.