Fact-check: Is China missing a billion people?
More or Less

Fact-check: Is China missing a billion people?

B2Upper-intermediateOctober 10, 20268 min

A viral video circulating online claims the population of China is actually a billion people lower than the UN and China say. A billion is big number, you'd think the Chinese would notice if that many were missing - and the claim is certainly false. However, as the team dug into the stats, a strange story emerged - which suggests the official data on births and fertility may not be quite as reliable as you might think. We spoke to demographer Professor Sabu Padmadas from the University of Southampton to find out more. <...

Play episode

Opens the player: the full transcript, every word clickable, with translation and flashcards.

Try it: tap any word

Real sentences from the start of this episode. Every word is marked with its level.

Sentence 3 of 12 · 0:14

looks at the numbers in the news, and in life, and in the population of China. I'm Tim Harford.

,

more or less at bbc.co.uk, to ask us to look at the numbers stated in a viral video that they,

Hear this sentence

Tap a word to see its meaning in your language.

Do you know these words?

8 harder words from this episode. Tap one to see what it means, then mark it.

  • B20:14
  • B21:49
  • B22:59
  • B24:13
  • C25:22
  • B25:42
  • B26:41
  • C17:51

Mark a few words and we'll tell you how this episode fits your level.

Is this episode right for you?

B2

B2 · Upper-intermediate

Comfortable if you already follow TV news

A1 33%A2 35%B1 25%B2 6%C1 1%
  • 93% of the words are B1 or easier.
  • 160 words a minute: a natural pace.
  • 70 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.

Transcript

The opening of the episode. The whole transcript is in the player.

0:00

Hello and thanks for downloading the More or Less podcast. We are the programme that looks at the numbers in the news, and in life, and in the population of China. I'm Tim Harford. Loyal listeners Andrew and Thomas emailed in to our statistical sleuthing agency, more or less at bbc.co.uk, to ask us to look at the numbers stated in a viral video that they,

0:27

along with hundreds of thousands of other people, had seen on the Gram. The numbers in question were of a demographical nature, specifically the population of China. Now it has long been understood and accepted that China is a big country with lots of people. According to the UN and the Chinese government,

0:50

the population of China is somewhere around 1.4 billion people. At least, it was accepted until this video. You are ready for the number? Yes.

That was the opening. The rest of the episode (8 min) is in the player: every word clickable, with translation, saved words and flashcards.

Continue in the player

Automatically generated from the audio. May contain errors. Audio belongs to its publisher and is played from their feed. Rights holders can request removal — copyright & takedown policy