China is experiencing rapid demographic change as young people are making up an ever-smaller share of the population. At the same time, China is seeking to modernize the People's Liberation Army (PLA). These two topics generally have been considered separately to date. In this report, the authors place China's current population dynamics in context to consider how demographic changes will affect the PLA and China's broader society and to improve understanding of China's military strategy and of the choices China will likely face in the near term. First, the authors discuss China's current and past fertility rates, comparing trends in China with those in other countries. Next, they document China's age distribution and compare it with that of the United States. They discuss other specific health- and education-related trends that will influence PLA recruiting, present information about China's past and its likely future economic growth rates, and analyze the implications for the PLA and the country as a whole. Finally, the authors discuss the PLA's aims and the ways in which demographic and other trends may influence its capacity to achieve its goals. The authors' analysis reveals that China's demographic trends do not portend a crisis for the PLA. However, China's economic and social environment will likely limit the PLA's ability to build the type of military that Chairman of the Central Military Commission Xi Jinping envisions. If the PLA cannot access the types of recruits it needs, it may be forced to rethink its goals and assumptions about modernization.