The population of China has decreased for the first time in decades, with the nation reaching a record low of 6.77 births per 1,000 residents.
This is the first decline in the country’s population since 1961, the year of China’s Great Famine, Reuters reported. The population in 2022 sat at 1.41175 billion, a drastic fall from the population in 2021 by 850,000 people. In 2021, the birth rate in China was 7.52 births per 1,000 people.
Despite the nation ending its policies aimed at slowing the birth rate, such as the one-child policy, Chinese officials have said the country is in an “era of negative population growth,” according to BBC News.
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The one-child policy, adopted in 1979, aimed to slow population growth. Families that violated this policy were fined and, at times, lost their jobs. Furthermore, it led to forced abortions and a skewed gender ratio, as China typically valued boys over girls.
In 2016, the policy was abolished, and married couples were allowed to have two children. The Chinese government offered incentives to reverse or slow the falling birth rate, such as tax breaks or better maternal healthcare, but it ultimately did not ease the burden of childcare after birth.
After this recent drop in China’s population, it is possible that India will take the No. 1 spot as the world’s most populous country, but the country only collects population figures every 10 years. Its 2021 population count was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. United Nations experts estimated that India would have a population of 1.412 billion, but they did not expect it to overtake China’s until this year, per Reuters.
Experts anticipate China’s population shrinking by 109 million by 2050, which is more than triple the decline predicted in 2019.
However, Kang Yi, the head of China’s National Statistics Bureau, has dismissed concerns about the population decline, telling reporters that “overall labour supply still exceeds demand.” Kang reported that the number of childbearing Chinese women, defined as women ages 25 to 35, fell by about 4 million between 2021 and 2022.
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On the other side, China’s death rate hit its highest point since 1974 during the Cultural Revolution. It sits at 7.37 deaths per 1,000 people, compared to 7.18 deaths in 2021.
China is now facing a resurgence of coronavirus variants since the nation rolled back its policies relating to the virus last month. Between Dec. 8, 2022, and Jan. 12, 2023, roughly 60,000 people died due to respiratory struggles or coronavirus ailments paired with preexisting health conditions.
Deaths that occurred outside of hospitals were not counted in this number, so it is possible the overall death count is higher.
