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Shanghai's population can be hard to pin down, with popular numbers including 13 million, the registered total, 17 million, the official figure, and 20 million, the oft-speculated "real" number. The one fact that is easy to find, however, is that in 2004 Shanghai's "natural" population growth (new births minus deaths) hit zero for the first time in a decade. In 1994, Shanghai became the first city in China to record a negative natural population growth (i.e. more deaths than births), a trend that has continued for the past ten years. Why the celebration? Ever since the implementation of the one-child policy in 1979, China's population has been aging rapidly, and, as Japan and Germany have demonstrated, that can be problematic. An aging population, which strains the health-care system while starving other sectors of needed workers, has been one of the major arguments against the one-child policy. Shanghaiist, though, believes it'll be a long time before anyone feels lonely in Shanghai. Even though some of the numbers attached to the policy are quite disturbing, we bet young couples searching for a make-out spot will still find themselves fighting for bench space in Shanghai's increasingly crowded public parks.