Predictions for populations from places like the United Nations, don’t account for accelerating change, as we see in China currently. Latest inducements are not helping, and fewer people are marrying:
Figures released by the country’s national bureau of statistics show there were 8.5 births per 1,000 people in 2020, the first time in decades that the figure has fallen below 10. In 1978, the figure was more than 18 per 1,000.
The statistical yearbook, released at the weekend, said the natural rate of population growth – taking in births and deaths – was also at a new low of 1.45.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/23/chinese-birthrate-falls-to-lowest-since-1978