If You're Listening How dodgy data sent China's economy off course
Oct 1, 2025
Explore the startling consequences of China's dodgy population data and the One Child Policy. Discover how empty towers in Kunming symbolize a faltering property sector. Delve into the cultural impact of the strict population control and its unexpected economic backfire. Uncover why accurate census data is crucial for effective planning. Learn how overestimation masked a demographic decline and drove birth rates down despite policy relaxations. Finally, see how these factors ripple through global markets, affecting iron ore prices and more.
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Dramatic Demolition In Kunming
- Residents in Kunming filmed 15 unfinished 30-storey towers being demolished with explosives after the developer went bankrupt.
- The spectacle illustrated how overbuilt and empty China's housing stock had become due to failed property speculation.
Vacant Apartments Reveal Structural Flaw
- China faces a glut of vacant apartments as population and birth rates fall, leaving many units unwanted or held by investors.
- Falling property prices and bankrupt developers show the housing boom depended on continuous population growth and investment demand.
Attenborough's Surprising Population Scoop
- In 1979 David Attenborough interviewed Deng Xiaoping and confirmed China was encouraging married couples to have only one child.
- That exchange is an early documented confirmation of the one-child policy's official encouragement.