Declining birthrates are officially manifesting in shrinking populations, leaving many to wonder what lies ahead.-BY Jill Motley

When China released its latest demographic figures, newspapers around the world screamed the facts out in the largest print-type they could find. It was official. China’s population had declined. The country, long one of the most populous in the world, was now joining the rest of East Asian in seeing years of declining birthrates manifest in a shrinking population.

To be fair, it’s not a new problem, nor is it wholly unexpected. Population analysts from the UN and elsewhere have been warning Asian leaders for some time that witho....