China’s population has fallen for the first time in more than 60 years.
The country recorded 1.41175 billion people at the end of 2022 as compared to 1.41260 billion in 2021.
The population fall of 850,000 marks the beginning of what is expected to be a long period of population decline in China.
Now, China has entered an “era of negative population growth”, after figures revealed a historic drop in the number of people for the first time since 1961.
“Experts in the fields of population and economics have made predictions that by 2022 or no later than 2023, the country will enter an era of negative population growth.
Recall that China had set up the ‘one-child policy‘ in 1979 to help curb birth rates and an excessively growing economy.
However, that policy has been reversed and China is struggling to build up its population.
Last year’s birth rate was 6.77 births per 1,000 people, down from a rate of 7.52 births in 2021, marking the lowest birthrate on record.
In real figures, there were more than one million fewer registered births in 2022 than the previous year’s total of 10.62 million.
The country also reported its highest death rate since 1976, registering 7.37 deaths per 1,000 people compared with a rate of 7.18 deaths in 2021.
Recently, the Chinese government has also offered tax breaks and better maternal healthcare among other incentives to reverse or slow the falling birth rate.
