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China's population continues to decline for a third consecutive year due to a declining birth rate and amid concerns about the economy.
The population of China fell for the third year in a row in 2024, as the demographic crisis continues to loom over the East Asian superpower.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported on Friday that China's population has declined up 1.39 million over the past 12 months to 1.408 billion as deaths continue to outpace births.
China's population has been steadily declining since the 1980s, but in 2022. it was the first time deaths outpaced births since 1961, when China was in the midst of a disastrous Great Leap Forward plan that led to a famine in which some 20 million people starved to death.
Beijing's recent efforts to slow the decline in the birth rate have failed to slow what is a long-term trend, and the NBS acknowledged that the country faces several challenges.
“We must be aware that the adverse effects caused by the external environment are increasing, domestic demand is insufficient, some enterprises are experiencing difficulties in production and operation, and the economy is still facing difficulties and challenges,” the bureau's report said .
Beijing has used a variety of carrot-and-stick approaches to boost birth rates, from labeling single women as “leftovers” if they remain unmarried, to making it harder to get a divorce or abortion, and offering subsidies to couples to support rising costs for childcare.
Marriages increased by 12.4 percent year-on-year in 2023. after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to a brief recovery in the birth rate in the first half of 2024. in some parts of the country.
Last year was also China's auspicious Year of the Dragon, which usually leads to a small baby boom in Asia, but experts say the overall trend is downward.
China officially ended its “one-child policy” in 2016, which for decades tried to control the country's growth but ended up with a lopsided population due to a cultural preference for male children.
Families are now allowed to have three children from 2021, but the rising cost of living in urban areas, a slowing economy and high youth unemployment have made raising children a less attractive prospect for many young Chinese.
China's economy grew by 5 percent in 2024, meeting government forecasts, but gross domestic product (GDP) growth is expected to continue to slow in the coming years.
Facing a demographic crisis, Beijing implemented new measures to gradually raise the mandatory retirement age from 60 to 63 for men, 55 to 58 for women in managerial and technical positions, and 55 for all other working women.
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. China, like much of East Asia, also does not allow unmarried women access to infertility treatments such as IVF.
