Posted 3/1/2024, 6:38:13 AM
Emptying Rural Villages and Crowded Cities Leave China's Migrants With Bleak Options
- Rural Chinese face bleak options stay in emptying villages with scarce resources, or move to cities with few jobs
- Rapid urbanization has brought benefits but also pressing rural issues like inadequate elderly care, rising divorce, and declining birth rates
- Survey shows most villages now have under 60% occupancy as residents leave seeking work
- Migrants find urban job prospects declining - 43% reported fewer opportunities
- Caring for the growing elderly population in rural areas increasingly falls to seniors themselves, with self-care at 40%
