China’s population last year fell for a fourth consecutive year as the birthrate plunged to a record low, official data showed yesterday, with experts warning of further decline.
The nation’s population dropped by 3.39 million to 1.405 billion, a faster decline than 2024, while the total number of births dropped to 7.92 million last year, down 17 percent from 9.54 million in 2024. The number of deaths rose to 11.31 million from 10.93 million in 2024, Chinese National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data showed.
China’s birthrate dropped to 5.63 per 1,000 people.
Photo: AP
Births last year were “roughly the same level as in 1738, when China’s population was only about 150 million,” said Yi Fuxian (易富賢), a demographer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
China’s death rate of 8.04 per 1,000 people last year was the highest since 1968. China’s population has been shrinking since 2022 and is aging rapidly, complicating Beijing’s plan to boost domestic consumption and rein in debt.
The number of people aged 60 or older reached about 23 percent of the total population, the NBS data showed.
By 2035 the number of people aged 60 or older is set to hit 400 million — equal to the populations of the US and Italy combined — meaning hundreds of millions of people are set to leave the workforce at a time when pension budgets are already stretched.
China has already increased retirement ages, with men now expected to work until they are 63 rather than 60, and women until they are 58 rather than 55.
Marriages in China plunged by one-fifth in 2024, the biggest drop on record, with more than 6.1 million couples registering for marriage, down from 7.68 million in 2023.
Marriages are typically a leading indicator for birthrates in China.
Demographers say a decision in May last year to allow couples to marry anywhere in the country rather than only their place of residence is likely to lead to a temporary boost in births.
Marriages rose 22.5 percent from a year earlier to 1.61 million in the third quarter of last year.
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