China’s population has decreased as the birth rate is falling
(Picture: Getty Images)Chinese officials have been urged to boost China’s birth rate after its population declined by nearly a million people last year.
This is partially due to China’s one-child policy that ran for 30 years until 2016.
Amid changing attitudes and rising living costs, this means that fewer babies are being born compared with the number of deaths among the older population.
China is now looking for new ways to boost its population rate.
What is the population of China?
China has a population of 1.4 billion, making it the world’s most populous country.
However, China experienced a population drop of 850,000 from 2021 to 2022, the National Bureau of Statistics said.
This drop is a reflection of a declining birth rate and an ageing population. It is expected to be the start of an era of negative population growth.
Other factors behind the declining population include changing attitudes towards marriage and the rising cost of living.
Before 2022, China had not experienced a dip in population growth since 1961, when famine killed tens of millions of people.
The UN estimates that the number of Chinese people aged between 15 and 64 will fall by more than 60 per cent this century.
What was the one-child policy?
In 1980, China introduced an anti-population growth policy, known as the one-child policy, that penalised couples for having a second child.
Its aim was to reduce the rapid population growth to zero.
Couples who had more than one child were fined, and due to a preference for sons, many baby girls were abandoned.
However, an ageing population meant that there continued to be more babies being born than elderly people who were dying. As such, the population continued to grow.
The anti-population growth policy ran until 2016 when the limit was increased to two children. In 2021, the limit was increased again, to three children.
The country is now facing a declining birth rate, which officials are trying to reverse.
What is being proposed to increase the birth rate?
Yang Wenzhuang, a senior health official in Beijing, has urged officials to take steps to boost population growth.
He told a state-backed health magazine that "local governments should be encouraged to actively explore and make bold innovations in reducing the cost of childbirth, childcare and education”.
Propositions include making childcare and education more affordable and paying couples to have more children.
Some provinces pay men to donate sperm while Sichuan allows unmarried couples to raise a family and enjoy the benefits of a married couple.
What are the impacts of a declining population?
A declining population could result in fewer people of working age, which could increase labour costs, and as a result, high inflation.
But without an increased birth rate, China will have to consider other ways of increasing its working-age population.
China has not historically promoted immigration, so it may be unwilling to encourage international workers to move to the country.
Economist George Magnus said one option could be to raise the retirement age from 60, though this suggestion has previously sparked a backlash.
