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China to Hold Nationwide Survey on Population Changes

Chinese tourists visit the Mutianyu Great Wall in Beijing, China, Tuesday, Oct 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)
Chinese tourists visit the Mutianyu Great Wall in Beijing, China, Tuesday, Oct 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)
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China to Hold Nationwide Survey on Population Changes

Chinese tourists visit the Mutianyu Great Wall in Beijing, China, Tuesday, Oct 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)
Chinese tourists visit the Mutianyu Great Wall in Beijing, China, Tuesday, Oct 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)

China's National Bureau of Statistics said it will conduct a nationwide sample survey from Thursday to "accurately" monitor population changes and better plan economic and social policies, as authorities struggle to boost a fall in births.
The survey, which will run until Nov. 30, comes after the bureau conducted a similar poll in 2023.
Beijing is urgently trying a variety of measures to incentivize young couples to have children after China posted a second consecutive year of population decline in 2023, Reuters reported.
Rapid aging has become a growing concern for policymakers, with China's cohort of those aged 60 and older expected to rise at least 40% to more than 400 million by 2035, equal to the populations of Britain and the United States combined.
The survey will focus on urban and rural areas to "accurately and timely monitor and reflect the development and changes in population" and help formulate "national economic and social development plans," the bureau said in a statement.
Local governments and personnel will be held accountable for any "illegal acts" during survey work, and all sectors of society must "actively support and cooperate" with the survey, it said.
Population development has often been linked to the strength and "rejuvenation" of China in state media, amid the declining birth rate and widespread concerns by citizens on the difficulties of raising children.
Chinese health officials said in September that they would focus more efforts on advocating marriage and childbirth at appropriate ages and called for shared parenting responsibilities to guide young people towards "positive perspectives on marriage, childbirth and family.”
Many young Chinese are opting to remain childless due to high childcare costs, an unwillingness to marry, or put their careers on hold in a traditional society where women are still seen as the main care-givers and where gender discrimination remains rife.
The number of marriages in the first half of this year fell to its lowest level since 2013, official data showed.
China last conducted its once-in-a-decade census of the entire population in November 2020, which showed the population grew at the slowest pace since the first modern survey in the 1950s.

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Nepali Becomes Youngest to Climb World's 8,000m Peaks

(FILES) This picture taken on May 31, 2021 shows peaks along the Himalayan range, as seen from the summit of Mount Everest. (Photo by Lakpa SHERPA / AFP)
(FILES) This picture taken on May 31, 2021 shows peaks along the Himalayan range, as seen from the summit of Mount Everest. (Photo by Lakpa SHERPA / AFP)
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Nepali Becomes Youngest to Climb World's 8,000m Peaks

(FILES) This picture taken on May 31, 2021 shows peaks along the Himalayan range, as seen from the summit of Mount Everest. (Photo by Lakpa SHERPA / AFP)
(FILES) This picture taken on May 31, 2021 shows peaks along the Himalayan range, as seen from the summit of Mount Everest. (Photo by Lakpa SHERPA / AFP)

An 18-year-old Nepali mountaineer on Wednesday broke the record for the youngest person to summit all 14 of the world's 8,000-meter peaks, his team said.

Nima Rinji Sherpa reached the summit of Tibet's 8,027-meter-high Shisha Pangma on Wednesday morning, completing his mission to stand on the world's highest peaks.

"He reached the summit this morning. He had trained well and I was confident he would do it," his father Tashi Sherpa told AFP.

Summiting all 14 "eight-thousanders" is considered the peak of mountaineering aspirations. Climbers cross "death zones" where there is not enough oxygen in the air to sustain human life for long periods.

"This summit is not just the culmination of my personal journey, but a tribute to every Sherpa who has ever dared to dream beyond the traditional boundaries set for us," Sherpa said in a statement.

"Mountaineering is more than labor, it is a testament to our strength, resilience and passion."

Sherpa is no stranger to the mountains, hailing from a family of record-holding mountaineers, who also now run Nepal's largest mountaineering expedition company.

The record was previously held by another Nepali climber, Mingma Gyabu 'David' Sherpa. He achieved it in 2019, at the age of 30.

Nima Rinji Sherpa, who already holds multiple records from his ascents of dozens of peaks, started high-altitude climbing at the age of 16, by climbing Mount Manaslu in August 2022.

By June this year, he had climbed his 13th mountain, Kanchenjunga, the world's third highest.

"This is a proud moment for our country," Nima Nuru Sherpa, president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, told AFP.

"Nima broke all the stereotypes, and his success has given a message that nothing is impossible if you have a strong determination."

Nepali climbers -- usually ethnic Sherpas from the valleys around Everest -- are considered the backbone of the climbing industry in the Himalayas.

They carry the majority of equipment and food, fixing ropes and repairing ladders.

Long in the shadows as supporters of foreign climbers, they are slowly being recognized in their own right.

In 2021, a team of Nepali climbers made the first winter ascent of K2, the world's second-highest peak -- the notoriously challenging 8,611-meter "savage mountain" of Pakistan.