The world’s most populous country, China, saw its population decline last year for the first time in six decades, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed on Tuesday.
According to official data, the population of the Asian nation was around 1,411,750,000 (1.4 billion) at the end of 2022, which represents a drop of 850,000 compared to the end of the previous year.
The latest statistics are likely to usher in a decline in the number of citizens in China with potential for a big hit to the country’s economy, which has also slumped after growing just 3 percent in 2022, one of the weakest. in 40 years, according to official data. .
The latest report reinforces the experts’ opinion that India, which is currently the world’s second most populous nation, will overtake China for the top spot.
According to a Reuters report, online searches for baby strollers on China’s Baidu search engine fell 17% in 2022 and 41% since 2018. In addition, searches for baby bottles have fallen by more than a third since 2018. In India, however, the opposite is happening with Google Trends showing a 15% year-on-year increase in baby bottle searches in 2022, while the same for cribs saw a nearly five-fold increase.
Meanwhile, in China, Baidu’s online searches for nursing homes increased eightfold last year.
These are the key points of this development:
- The last time China’s population declined was in 1960 when the country battled the Great Famine caused by Mao Zedong’s agricultural policy known as the Great Leap Forward.
- In 2022, China’s birth rate was 6.77 births per 1,000 people, down from the previous year’s rate of 7.52 births and as a result marked the lowest birth rate on record, the NBS said. . The country also recorded its highest death rate since 1974, recording 7.37 deaths per 1,000 people compared to a rate of 7.18 deaths in 2021.
- The United Nations had previously predicted that the world’s most populous country will start to see its number of citizens dwindle starting this year, Reuters reported. The National Health Commission said that China “will enter a stage of negative growth in the period of the 14th Five-Year Plan,” referring to the time span between 2021 and 2025, AFP reported. UN experts further claimed that China’s population will shrink by 109 million by 2050, more than triple the drop from their previous prediction in 2019.
- Much of the population decline has been blamed on China’s strict ‘one-child policy’ which was imposed in the 1980s due to fears of overpopulation and was only relaxed in 2016 with couples allowed to have three children each. starting in 2021.
- The ‘covid zero’ policy that was in place for three years and was removed last year worsened the damage as citizens were forced to stay at home with a grim cash inflow, Reuters reported, citing population experts.
- Among other reasons, many, according to AFP reports, have pointed out that China’s soaring costs of living explain the downward demographic trend. In addition, the demand for higher education has contributed. Xiujian Peng, a researcher at the University of Victoria in Australia, told AFP that the Chinese are also “getting used to” a small family because of the “one child” policy that has lasted for decades.
- Local governments in the Asian country implemented several measures to address the declining birth rate, even as the population ages. These include tax deductions, longer maternity leave, and housing allowances. For example, the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen now offers a birth bonus and paid allowances until the child is three years old. The eastern city of Jinan has started paying a monthly stipend of 600 yuan to couples who have a second child from January 1.
(With contributions from AFP and Reuters)
