China’s birth rate just hit its lowest point since 1949—and Trip.com cofounder James Liang thinks that’s a threat to innovation

(Credit: Courtesy of Trip.com Group)

Trip.com cofounder James Liang has a blunt warning for aging economies: Without more children, their ability to innovate will soon stall.

“We need more people to innovate. That is why population and having children is important,” he said in an interview with Fortune earlier this year. “If we have a declining population, not only will our ability to innovate diminish, but we will lose our capacity to stay in control of innovation itself.”