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In February 2025, the news of “Death Rate of Post-80s Exceeding 5.2%” and “1 out of 20 Post-80s has passed away” spread widely in mainland China.
Many people expressed discontent for the Post-80s generation, believing they are the “overdrafted generation of their time”. However, right after the uproar, Chinese official media immediately came out to debunk the rumors, claiming that the data had “numerous flaws” and that the “initial source was likely obtained through interactions with AI”.
But this explanation seemed hard to convince the public, as many Post-80s individuals stated that they did have peers of the same age who had indeed passed away.
Post-80s refers to those born from January 1, 1980, to December 31, 1989. In early 2025, they were between 35 and 45 years old, at the prime of their lives.
Today, let’s take a look at why these individuals in their prime suddenly passed away.
Where did the data of “Death Rate of Post-80s Exceeding 5.2%” come from?
It originated from DeepSeek, hyped by the CCP at the end of 2024 as “100 times more powerful than ChatGPT”.
Regarding the “Death Rate of Post-80s”, it provided an answer based on the data from the seventh population census: “There are currently 212 million Post-80s, with a survival rate of 94.8% and a death rate of 5.2%”.
The expanded version of this answer stated: “There are nearly 222.53 million births of Post-80s, with 211.695 million surviving during the seventh census… with a survival rate of 95.13%. From 2021 to 2024, 730,600 people died, leading to a decrease in the survival rate to 94.8% by 2024”.
After the news of “Death Rate of Post-80s Exceeding 5.2%” sparked widespread attention, the CCP immediately stepped in to debunk it, identifying experts who claimed the data was wildly incorrect and punishing nine individuals.
The announcement from the Public Security Bureau of the CCP stated: “Some internet users spread rumors such as ‘the death rate of Post-70s is lower than that of Post-80s’, ‘several classmates have passed away early’, ‘I know three Post-80s who have died’, etc., causing public concern and negative impact”.
The CCP’s handling of this so-called “rumor” easily brings to mind the events at the beginning of 2020 when several whistleblowers, including Dr. Li Wenliang, who worked in an eye hospital in Wuhan – the initial epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak – were reprimanded for spreading information about the virus before the outbreak was officially acknowledged.
On April 4, a 34-year-old internet celebrity reportedly died from a “sudden heart attack”, topping the hot search list in China.
This incident triggered a barrage of discussions in the comment section, with young people from various regions sharing news of sudden deaths. A citizen from Kunming reported the sudden death of a friend’s son in his thirties and another colleague in his twenties.
A migrant worker from Guangxi revealed that in both Beijing and his hometown, in the past couple of years, there had been many incidents of “young people dying”, including individuals in their forties and thirties, many of whom “died suddenly while working”. He mentioned that in his vicinity, “five or six people” had passed away.
Additionally, some individuals claimed that in 2023, six young people had died around them, and in 2024, three more had passed away, ranging from 30 to 45 years old, mostly from the Post-80s and 90s generations.
Discussing the causes of death, a man from Hunan working in Shenzhen mentioned that several colleagues in their thirties and forties at his workplace had suddenly collapsed and died. He suspected it was related to the COVID-19 vaccine.
He stated that before receiving the vaccine, these colleagues were “healthy”, but they were mandated to get vaccinated to continue working. However, even after vaccination, some individuals remained unwell with lingering cold symptoms for one or two months, with medications proving ineffective.
Furthermore, another netizen shared, “Three years ago in Jingzhou, I visited three cemeteries. There were many young people in their twenties and middle-aged individuals under 60 who had passed away. Looking at the rolling information on the cremation tablets, there were hardly any elderly individuals. When visiting the graveyard, apart from the unfortunate young individuals, there were very few individuals above 75 years old”.
At the end of January 2025, a photo of an electronic screen taken by a netizen in a funeral parlor in Shandong displayed eight deceased individuals, with three aged between 14 and 31, two in their forties, and one at 55 years old, leaving only two individuals above 70.
Another netizen from Shandong uploaded a death registry document from 2024, taken at the village committee. The document showed an average age of 65.8 for the deceased. Among the 18 deceased individuals, five were in their forties, including one Post-80s individual. In terms of causes of death, half were due to illness, with only a third from natural causes.
The netizen remarked, “A neighbor works at the crematorium and claimed that out of every 10 deceased individuals, seven do not live past 70 years. It’s so sad!”
Why did the notion of “Death Rate of Post-80s Exceeding 5.2%” resonate with many individuals? It’s because the Post-80s generation generally feels significant pressure. Although young adults in every country experience the stress of life and supporting a family, Chinese Post-80s face additional pressures that their counterparts in other countries do not.
As early as 2019, some Post-80s described themselves as the “unfortunate generation”.
They summarized their lives compared to their peers in the following manner:
– Born under the “one-child policy”, becoming “only children” without siblings. When they married and had children, the two-child policy emerged. They have elderly parents to care for and their own children.
– During primary school, higher education was practically free. However, when they pursued higher education, primary education suddenly became costly.
– Before entering the workforce, jobs were allocated. When they started seeking employment, it was a struggle to find a job that could barely sustain them without sacrificing their well-being.
– Housing was provided while they were still students. After graduation and when they could finally earn, they discovered homes were unaffordable.
Expressions included: “Accumulating degrees in school, accumulating work experience at the job, and then accumulating children. Upon graduation, finding no job, and upon finding one, realizing you have four elderly relatives and two kids to support…” They felt that they were pushed out of their jobs at 35 years old, unable to find employment again, with social security payments stopping, and housing payments halted, culminating in delayed retirement. Even with social security, they were informed by the government that pension funds in 2035 would be depleted, and they still had to support the government, even in old age…
The Post-80s grew up during the era when China, under the CCP’s guidance, prioritized monetary gains after the June 4th protests in 1989. Many unscrupulous businessmen compromised the quality of food products for profit.
As a result, many Post-80s suffered from conditions like hypertension, diabetes, heart disease – common ailments of the elderly. One contributing factor was consuming foods with harmful additives. Despite appearing diverse and abundant, these foods depleted their health.
Coupled with the long working hours of 996 and 007. 996 meant working from 9 am to 9 pm, six days a week. 007 was even more extreme – working around the clock, seven days a week, essentially being on call 24/7.
In this environment, the physical and mental health of Post-80s was severely strained, making them susceptible to illness and sudden death.
As early as 2010, a young economist in mainland China predicted that the Post-80s were destined to be the most tragic generation in China’s history.
The article foresaw that “many Post-80s would be forced to work into their 70s”. They experienced the one-child policy, needing to support at least two elderly relatives with an unprecedented burden. In 1987, 30,000 RMB was enough for retirement, but by 2007, 300,000 RMB was necessary. However, by the Post-80s’ retirement in 2047, they would likely need 3 million RMB to survive the rest of their lives due to inflation impacts.
The article also emphasized that the Post-80s might never achieve the “middle-class dream”. The prerequisites for nurturing a middle-class lifestyle – a robust education system, abundant cultural and high-end manufacturing jobs, a mature capital market, and a relatively comprehensive social security system – were practically nonexistent in communist China. This left “the majority of Post-80s either unemployed or underpaid, without even qualifying for the ‘mortgage slave’ or ‘child-rearing slave’ status”.
At that time, in 2010, many Post-80s expressed discontent with these predictions.
Some said: “Are our minor economic difficulties more tragic than the injustices of history? Are we worse off than those in the dark feudal societies where lives were disregarded? There are no difficulties we cannot overcome, as compared to our predecessors, we are already very fortunate!”
Others stated: “Causing alarm, seeking popularity, the author’s mentality is problematic. The Post-80s are a striving generation, a fortunate generation as they can witness the rise and progress of their motherland”.
Another individual commented: “When cities strictly enforced the one-child policy, while rural areas were filled with families with three or four children, reports surfaced about many rural children struggling to continue their studies due to financial difficulties. It turned out that having numerous children in families was an intolerable burden. Hence, there won’t be a problem in China within 30 years where young labor has to support several elderly individuals”.
This indicated that the Post-80s at that time, under the indoctrination of communist lies, still harbored hope or perhaps illusions about society. However, reality can be harsh, even when dreams are comforting.
Following the pandemic, China witnessed the emergence of the “Four No’s Youth”, led by the Post-80s and dominated by the Post-90s. They do not engage in relationships, marriage, property purchases, or childbearing, further illustrating the realization of the prophecy that the Post-80s are the most tragic generation.
On the other hand, CCP experts have informed the Chinese populace that due to economic stagnation, an aging population, and declining birth rates, pension funds will be depleted by 2035.
Does this mean that when the Post-80s reach retirement age, they will need to work for several more years, contributing more to the retirement fund to secure their own retirement?
Well, that’s all for today’s program. Thank you for watching, and see you in the next episode.
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