Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 267

Covid: China 2022 economic growth hit by coronavirus restrictions

China's economy grew last year at the second slowest rate in almost half a century - in a sign of how the country's strict coronavirus regulations have affected businesses. Official figures show the gross domestic product (GDP) of the world's second largest economy rose 3% in 2022. That is way below the government's target of 5.5% but better than most economists had forecast.Last month Beijing

China's population falls for first time since 1961

China's population has fallen for the first time in 60 years, with the national birth rate hitting a record low - 6.77 births per 1,000 people. The population in 2022 - 1.4118 billion - fell by 850,000 from 2021. China's birth rate has been declining for years, prompting a slew of policies to slow the trend. But seven years after scrapping the one-child policy, it has entered what one official

Industrial espionage: How China sneaks out America's technology secrets

It was an innocuous-looking photograph that turned out to be the downfall of Zheng Xiaoqing, a former employee with energy conglomerate General Electric Power. According to a Department of Justice (DOJ) indictment, the US citizen hid confidential files stolen from his employers in the binary code of a digital photograph of a sunset, which Mr Zheng then mailed to himself. It was a technique called

India is about to pass China as the world's most populous country

India is expected to surpass China and become the world’s most populous nation within the next three months, according to a recent report by the United Nations’ population division, marking a seismic shift on the global stage in a trend with significant social and economic impact for both countries.“Most people think India's economy is still a fraction of what it could be in the future, which

With Jobs at Home Scarce, Young Chinese Are Heading to Africa

When Zhu Yuying began looking for graduate jobs this fall, the finance major quickly realized it was going to be tough going. The 24-year-old sent out around 70 applications, attended rounds of interviews, but only managed to secure offers for positions providing meager starting salaries of 90,000 yuan — just under $13,000 — per year. Then, one day, a video caught his eye on the Chinese social

Shenzhen Offers $2,800 Subsidy for Couples Having Third Child

The southern metropolis of Shenzhen has become the latest city to offer cash rewards to encourage couples to have more children, as the country’s birth rate continues to decline rapidly. Families having a third child or more in Shenzhen will receive a cash allowance of 19,000 yuan ($2,825) in total until the child reaches the age of 3, according to draft rules released by the city’s health

Survival of the Richest: The India Story

Inequalities are growing in India – this has been corroborated by scholars and government bodies alike. The impact of inequality is especially stark at the margins of the Indian society, with some communities such as the Scheduled Tribes (STs) suffering from physical remoteness and systematic exclusion from the means to achieve vertical mobility. Furthermore, the concentration of wealth continues

Richest 1% own 40.5% of India's wealth, says new Oxfam report

India's top 1% owned more than 40.5% of its total wealth in 2021, according to a new report by Oxfam. In 2022, the number of billionaires in the country increased to 166 from from 102 in 2020, the report said. Meanwhile, it added that the poor in India "are unable to afford even basic necessities to survive". The charity called on India's finance minister to levy a wealth tax on the ultra rich to

China Covid: New year optimism sees hopes of moving beyond virus

When you arrive in China now the officials in head-to-toe protective clothing are gone. There are no buses with special plastic dividers waiting to take you to centralised quarantine. The main reminder that Covid is still around is that people are wearing masks.It feels weird. You still need a PCR test before flying and arriving passengers fill in a health declaration form, accessible via phone

‘It’s Insane’: China’s Doctors Struggle to Cope Amid COVID Surge

Just weeks after China ended its “zero-COVID” policy, Dr. Xu Zuping and her outpatient department find themselves confronting an unprecedented crisis. The team in Shanghai is treating up to 600 patients a day — almost 20% more than the same period last year, Xu estimates. And they’re having to do so with four out of six doctors infected with COVID-19.“I’ve worked at this hospital for over 30