China’s birth rate dropped for a fifth consecutive year to the lowest level since the communist regime took control of the mainland, official data showed on Jan. 17. The rapidly shrinking birth rate underscores authorities’ continuing challenges in boosting its population as it grapples with an aging population and an impending shortage of workers. In 2016, it scrapped the nearly five-decade-old “one-child policy” in a bid to jumpstart population growth, although the high cost of urban living has deterred couples from having more children. Analysts have warned that China’s shrinking population could constrain economic growth prospects and interfere with Beijing’s ambitions. Last year, 10.62 million babies were born, as the birth rate fell to a fresh low of 7.52 per 1,000 people, the lowest level since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) took control of the country in 1949, when the National Statistics Bureau (NBS) began collecting the data. The natural …