Foreign Policy (February 20)
“Children born in the year of the dragon are considered lucky.” This is, however, unlikely to cause a bump” in China’s birthrate during 2024, which is “likely to see fewer births than any previous year of the dragon.” From 2011 (the last year of the dragon), the nation’s birthrate has dropped from 13.27 children to “just 6.39 children per 1,000 people” last year. The precipitous fall suggests “this year of the dragon may be a bit of a bust as people in China shy away from the soaring costs of child-rearing despite government propaganda pushing women to have more children and to stop working to raise them.”
Tags: Birthrate, Bump, Bust, Child-rearing, Children, China, Dragon, Fall suggests, Government, Lucky, Precipitous, Propaganda, Soaring costs, Women
Time (January 1)
“Russia’s President Vladimir Putin needs a time machine to take him back to March 2014, so he can stop at Crimea. Look at his poll numbers: the bump topped out when Putin added Crimea to the trophy case. The continuing fight in Ukraine’s eastern provinces has brought him nothing of value. He’ll be re-elected in March, but given the state of Russia’s economy, it won’t be long before he’s pining for a return to simpler times.”
