BEIJING—China’s population grew last year, the statistics bureau said on April 29 in an apparent bid to quash reports that it had fallen, but authorities stopped short of saying from which year numbers had grown. On Tuesday, the Financial Times newspaper said China was set to report that its population fell below 1.4 billion last year from 2019, in the first decrease in five decades, citing people familiar with the matter. The National Bureau of Statistics has delayed publishing the results of last year’s once-in-a-decade census, with no explanation apart from saying more preparatory work was needed. It had been due to announce the results in early April. “According to our understanding, in 2020, our country’s population continued to grow,” the bureau said in a one-sentence statement, adding that detailed figures would be disclosed when the census results were published. Births in China have continued to fall despite a two-child …