China's population falls for second straight year as births drop despite end of one-child policy

China's population fell by 2 million people in 2023, marking its second straight annual decrease, as births dropped for the seventh straight year and deaths jumped following the end of COVID-19 restrictions, the government said Wednesday.

The number of deaths rose by 690,000 to 11.1 million, more than double the previous year's increase.

Demographers said the rise was driven by the aging of the population and the widespread COVID-19 outbreaks that started in December 2022 and continued into February 2023.

The total population stood at 1.4 billion, the statistics bureau said.

China, long the most populated country in the world, dropped into second place behind India in 2023, according to UN estimates.

The falling births reflect a decline in the fertility rate that is a long-term economic and societal challenge for China.

Women are having fewer babies despite government incentives and the easing of its one-child policy in recent years to allow up to three children.

The lower fertility rate, together with people living longer because of better health care, means China is slowly growing older, something that could slow economic growth over time and challenge the government's finances and its ability to provide for a larger elderly population with fewer workers.

Experts expect the population decline to continue for decades, even if the fertility rate rebounds.

Demographer Zuo Xuejin, former executive vice-president of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, estimates that the proportion of the population that is 65 or older could double to more than 30 per cent by 2050.

The government issued guidelines earlier this week on developing the "silver" economy and enhancing the wellbeing of older people.

Those guidelines included expanding geriatric hospital and nursing care, encouraging the development of clothing, food and other products suitable for older people, cracking down on scams that target the elderly and making it easier to operate a TV.

The number of births fell by 540,000, or 5.6 per cent, which was smaller than the double-digit percentage drops the previous three years. The 9 million babies born in 2023 were less than half the total in 2016.

All the figures are estimates based on surveys and do not include Hong Kong and Macao. China conducts a full census every 10 years.

By AP

Original article link: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-01-18/chinese-population-falls-second-year-covid-19-one-child-policy/103361562