both with one another, and also with our many allies and partners. and could one of britain s richest men become the new owner of manchester united football team? live from our studio in singapore. this is bbc news. it s newsday. hello, and welcome to the programme. we begin in china where an unwelcome milestone has been reached. the country s population fell for the first time since the 1960s, and the national birth rate also fell to the lowest it s been since data collection began, in 1949. the announcement on tuesday comes alongside one of china s worst economic performances in almost half a century the labour force is shrinking, as the country s retired population keeps growing. this also means india is expected to overtake china as the world s most populous nation later this year. let s take a look at some of the numbers. china s population last year was over 1.4 billion people, according to official data that s a decrease of 850,000 people from 2021. as for the na
and could one of britain s richest men become the new owner of manchester united football team 7 live from our studio in singapore, this is bbc news. it s newsday. hello and welcome to the program. we begin in china where an unwelcome milestone has been reached. the country s population fell for the first time since the 1960s, and the national birthrate also fell to the lowest it s been since data collection began, in 1949. the announcement on tuesday comes alongside one of china s worst economic performances in almost half a century. the labour force is shrinking, as the country s retired population keeps growing. this also means india is expected to overtake china as the world s most populous nation later this year. let s take a look at some of the numbers. china s population last year was more than 1.4 billion people, according to official data. that s a decrease of 850,000 people from 2021. as for the national birth rate, it sank to just 6.77 births per 1,000 people. comp
so the burden on everyone is quite heavy. putting aside the financial burdens, it s quite a heavy commitment for people in our generation, in terms of time and energy. i ve been speaking to the population expert from the school of earth and environmental sciences at the university of queensland, dr elin charles edwards. she told me about the significance of these figures. we have known this has been coming for a long time but it is a real milestone and this coupled with the fact that india is likely to overtake china as the most populous country this year is a real shift in global population. and when you look at the fact that this has been a trend, what are you expecting to see in terms of the impact on chinese society and the economy there? we have known this is coming, most countries are going through what we are calling a demographic transition where we are having sustained falls in fertility rates over time, and
of structure. how we actually manage the fact that we have fewer productive workers per older people but it is something that we re all going to encounter and be faced with and there is little we can do about it. that was dr elin charles edwards at the university of queensland speaking to us on tuesday earlier. belgian prosecutors have struck a deal with one of the main suspects in a european union corruption scandal. pier antonio panzeri will receive a reduced prison sentence in exchange for information. qatar and morocco have contested claims they offered bribes to try to influence the european parliament. i ve been speaking to our news reporter sofia bettiza who gave me the latest. he isa he is a former mp in the parliament of brussels, he has been a central figure parliament of brussels, he has been a centralfigure in parliament of brussels, he has been a central figure in this