The population of China fell last year for the first time since the 1960s, with births dropping and deaths rising, strengthening fears about a long-term economic decline.
The Chinese population declined by roughly 850,000 people to a total of 1.41175 billion in 2022, per the country’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). This is the first annual population decline in Chinese history since 1961—the last year of the country’s Great Famine. The number of Chinese women classified as being of childbearing age, between 25 and 35, declined by roughly 4 million.
Around 1 million fewer babies were born last year than in the year prior. The NBS reported 9.56 million births for 2022, down from 10.62 million in 2021. Meanwhile, deaths rose from 10.14 million in 2021 to 10.41 in 2022….