As a pure layperson, it seems to me that such a significant drop in the ratio of the working to non-working population is likely to pose a big challenge to Chinese society in the next four decades. Cynicism is intellectual treason.
So I think the talk about the global demograpic crisis is overblown. Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.
Depending on what you consider "constant", China may not be a typical society in this respect.
The number of non-productive citizens went from 50.8% in 1950 to 57.5% in 1970 to about 40% today.
This is probably due in large part to China's birth control policy, among other things China went through in the last 60 years (and more). Cynicism is intellectual treason.
