• China’s population shrinkage is having a big effect on its economy.
  • Marriage rates have halved over the last decade, with only 3.4 million couples marrying in the first half.
  • Economists warn that an aging population could lead to sluggish growth and lower productivity.
  • gedaliyah@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    51
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    3 months ago

    I kinda feel like the “people aren’t buying enough diamonds” thing is pretty weird. Although I did buy a (antique) diamond for my wife, I just can’t see the world being much worse off if the diamond jewelery market were gone.

    • Mossy Feathers (They/Them)@pawb.social
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      20
      ·
      3 months ago

      Imo people aren’t buying enough lab gems. Diamonds can come from all kinds of fucked up places, but lab gems can only come from laboratories. Like, they literally don’t naturally exist on earth. They can do all kinds of cool things too, like fluoresce or change color under UV light or depending on the angle that you’re viewing it at. They’re vastly superior to diamonds for jewelry purposes but they’re not very common so the only affordable ones tend to be cast-offs.

      • _pete_@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        11
        ·
        3 months ago

        Yes but if you don’t cause a bunch of poor people conflict and pain how will your wife know that you love her? /s

    • ABCDE@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      3 months ago

      Perhaps it’s a measure of how much marriages cost and they’re spending less?

      • CodingCarpenter@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        3 months ago

        That and of the people I know most don’t really wear their wedding rings on the regular. So why spend a ton of money on it? It doesn’t make a ton of sense

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      3 months ago

      Antique is probably the best way to go if you want a diamond that even approaches affordability and isn’t part of the modern blood diamond trade. I gave my wife my grandmother’s ring, so I didn’t have to buy one at all, but most people don’t have that sort of luck.

      Just glancing quickly, eBay looks like it has some pretty decent deals on those.