China’s population drops for 2nd straight year | NHK WORLD-JAPAN News

China’s population declined for a second straight year in 2023 as the country saw its birthrates fall.

China’s National Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday that the country’s estimated total number of people stood at 1.409 billion as of the end of last year. That’s a year-on-year decrease of 2.08 million.

The margin of the decline is greater compared with that of 2022, when the first drop in 61 years was reported.

New births are estimated to total 9.02 million, down 540,000 from the previous year, marking the seventh consecutive year of decline.

The number of people age 65 or older increased by 6.98 million to 216.7 million. People in this age bracket account for 15.4 percent of the total population.

China faces social problems, such as a labor shortage, due to the sharp decline in the number of births and its rapidly aging population.

The country abandoned its one-child policy in 2016. Since 2021, people have been allowed to have up to three children.

Some provinces and cities have introduced various measures to tackle the falling birthrates. They include a provision of subsidies to a second or third child, as well as partial health insurance coverage for infertility treatment.

But the effectiveness of these measures appears to be limited. A growing number of people are reluctant to marry or have children, amid rising education and living costs as well as changing values. The situation is feared to have a negative impact on China’s economy.