China Economic Slowdown

China's growth model is straining under a multi-year property downturn, persistent deflationary pressure, weak domestic demand, and a shrinking, aging workforce. Beijing counters with targeted stimulus, industrial-policy export surges, and rate cuts, but confidence, local-government debt, and youth unemployment remain drags. The demographic cliff — deaths outpacing births since 2022 — compounds the long-run drag on productivity and consumption.

WHAT CHANGED · LAST 72H

• —Property sector defaults and unsold inventory keep dragging investment and household balance sheets
• —Consumer prices flirt with deflation while youth unemployment and weak demand persist
• —Population shrinks for a third straight year as births hit record lows and the workforce ages