China’s population declines for the third consecutive year, decline in birth rate. demography news
China’s population continues to decline for the third consecutive year due to a declining birth rate and economic concerns.
China’s population is expected to fall for the third consecutive year in 2024, as a demographic crisis looms over the East Asian superpower.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported on Friday that China’s population shrank by 1.39 million to 1.408 billion over the past 12 months as deaths continued to exceed births.
China’s population has been in steady decline since the 1980s, but in 2022 there were more deaths than births for the first time since 1961, when China was in the midst of the disastrous Great Leap Forward plan, which led to a famine that killed an estimated 20 million people. Were killed. Of starvation.
Beijing’s recent efforts to slow the falling birthrate have failed to slow the long-term trend, and the NBS acknowledged that the country faces a number of challenges.
“We must be aware that the adverse effects brought about by the external environment are increasing, domestic demands are insufficient, some enterprises are having difficulties in production and operation, and the economy is still facing difficulties and challenges,” the bureau said in its report. is facing.”
Beijing has adopted a variety of carrot-and-stick approaches to increasing the birth rate, including labeling single women as “leftovers” if they remain unmarried, making it more difficult to obtain a divorce or abortion, along with as well as offering subsidies to support couples. The rising cost of child care.
Marriages increased by 12.4 percent year-on-year in 2023 after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to a brief surge in births in the first half of 2024 in some parts of the country.
Last year was also the auspicious Year of the Dragon in China, which typically causes small baby booms across Asia, but experts say the overall trend is downwards.
China formally ended its “one-child policy” in 2016, which had tried to control the country’s growth for decades, but it ended up with an unbalanced population due to the cultural preference for male children. .
Families are now allowed to have three children as of 2021, but the rising cost of living in urban areas, the slowing economy and high rates of youth unemployment have made raising children a less attractive prospect for many young Chinese.
China’s economy is set to grow by 5 percent in 2024, in line with government forecasts, but gross domestic product (GDP) growth is expected to slow in the coming years.
Facing a demographic crisis, Beijing implemented new measures to gradually raise the mandatory retirement age for men from 60 to 63, for women in managerial and technical positions from 55 to 58, and for all other female workers to 55. Have done.
China is not the only country in East Asia facing a demographic crisis.
Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan are also experiencing population decline for similar reasons as China, including restrictions on immigration. Like much of East Asia, China does not allow unmarried women access to fertility treatments such as IVF.
