China’s population declines for the second year in a row with record low birth rate
In 2023, China’s population declined for the second year in a row due to record low birth rates and deaths from coronavirus. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the total number of people in the country decreased by 2.08 million to 1.409 billion.
According to Reuters, this is significantly higher than the population decline of 850,000 people in 2022, which was the first since 1961 during the Great Famine of the Mao Zedong era.
The total number of deaths in China last year increased by 6.6% to 11.1 million, with the mortality rate reaching its highest level since 1974 during the Cultural Revolution.
The number of new births fell by 5.7% to 9.02 million, and the fertility rate was at a record low of 6.39 births per 1,000 people, compared to 6.77 births in 2022.
The birth rate in China has been declining sharply for decades as a result of the one-child policy implemented from 1980 to 2015. China is now among the East Asian countries trying to reverse the decline in birth rates, which could lead to a shrinking labor force that drives economic growth and finances pension systems.
China’s population aged 60 and over reached 296.97 million in 2023, accounting for about 21.1% of the total.
In the long term, UN experts predict that China’s population will decline by 109 million by 2050, more than three times their previous forecast in 2019.
