China’s population falls for second consecutive year amid the record low birth rate!

A baby is seen in Beijing, China on March 11, 2021.China considers new actions to lift flagging birthrate.( The Yomiuri Shimbun )

The total population of China has been dropped by almost 2.75 million this year! It could be said the population dropped 0.2 per cent, to 1.409 billion last year. This measurements are according to the National Bureau of Statistics. The data has raised serious concerns about how the long-term will effect the growth potential of the world’s second-largest economy. Childcare and education costs are too high in China, which puts many Chinese couples off having children. The uncertainty in the job market also discourages the women and men from pausing their careers. Gender discrimination and traditional expectations of women will be take the major care taker role in the family exacerbates the issue more.

Number of people in China dropped by 2.08 million, or 0.15%, to 1.409 billion in 2023!

The National Bureau of Statistics has announced that the total number of people in China has now dropped by 2.08 million, or 0.15%, to 1.409 billion in 2023. This was above the population decline of 850,000 in 2022. Although that also was the first since 1961 during the Great Famine of the Mao Zedong era.

Total deaths has risen 6.6% to 11.1 million. This much high death rate is the highest level since 1974 during the Cultural Revolution. But the new birth rates has fallen 5.7% to 9.02 million. 6.39 births per 1,000 people, this much low birth rate was a record low, down from a rate of 6.77 births in 2022.

University of Michigan demographer Zhou Yun said, “As we have observed again and again from other low fertility countries, fertility decline is often very difficult to reverse.” China had been experiencing a huge decline in births. This is a result of their one-child policy which was implemented from 1980 to 2015 during the rapid urbanisation that was happening at that time. But after ending that contentious policy of one child in 2016, China is now facing the opposite problem. A huge number of people are moving to cities and they are opting to not have children atall, due to rising costs.