China’s population expected to start to shrink before 2025

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Web Desk

4 years ago

China’s population has slowed significantly and is expected to start to shrink ahead of 2025, the state backed Global Times reported, citing a senior health official.

Birth data released late on Sunday showed that the number of new births in 2021 was the lowest in decades in several provinces.

The number of births in central Hunan province fell below 500,000 for the first time in nearly 60 years, the Global Times said. Only China’s southern Guangdong province has had more than 1 million new births, it said.

China is battling to reverse a rapid shrinkage in natural population growth as many young people opt not to have children due to factors including the high cost and work pressure.

China’s population is expected to start to shrink in 2021-2025, the Global Times said, citing Yang Wenzhuang, head of population and family affairs at the National Health Commission.

A change in China’s laws last year to allow women to have three children has not helped, with many women saying the change comes too late and they have insufficient job security and gender equality.

Population of China (2020 and historical)

Year	Population	Yearly % Change	Yearly Change	Migrants (net)	Median Age	Fertility Rate	Density (P/Km²)	Urban Pop %	Urban Population	Country’s Share of World Pop	World Population	China Global Rank
2020	1,439,323,776	0.39 %	5,540,090	-348,399	38.4	1.69	153	60.8 %	875,075,919	18.47 %	7,794,798,739	1
2019	1,433,783,686	0.43 %	6,135,900	-348,399	37.0	1.65	153	59.7 %	856,409,297	18.59 %	7,713,468,100	1
2018	1,427,647,786	0.47 %	6,625,995	-348,399	37.0	1.65	152	58.6 %	837,022,095	18.71 %	7,631,091,040	1
2017	1,421,021,791	0.49 %	6,972,440	-348,399	37.0	1.65	151	57.5 %	816,957,613	18.83 %	7,547,858,925	1
2016	1,414,049,351	0.51 %	7,201,481	-348,399	37.0	1.65	151	56.3 %	796,289,491	18.94 %	7,464,022,049	1
2015	1,406,847,870	0.55 %	7,607,451	-310,442	36.7	1.64	150	55.1 %	775,352,918	19.06 %	7,379,797,139	1
2010	1,368,810,615	0.57 %	7,606,847	-435,677	35.0	1.62	146	48.9 %	669,353,557	19.68 %	6,956,823,603	1
2005	1,330,776,380	0.62 %	8,045,123	-393,116	32.6	1.61	142	42.2 %	561,983,323	20.34 %	6,541,907,027	1
2000	1,290,550,765	0.79 %	9,926,046	-76,600	30.0	1.62	137	35.7 %	460,377,048	21.01 %	6,143,493,823	1
1995	1,240,920,535	1.07 %	12,807,372	-155,996	27.4	1.83	132	30.9 %	383,901,711	21.60 %	5,744,212,979	1
1990	1,176,883,674	1.82 %	20,258,863	-86,330	24.9	2.73	125	26.3 %	310,022,147	22.09 %	5,327,231,061	1
1985	1,075,589,361	1.47 %	15,100,025	-40,000	23.5	2.52	115	22.8 %	244,946,241	22.08 %	4,870,921,740	1
1980	1,000,089,235	1.55 %	14,769,670	-9,401	21.9	3.01	107	19.2 %	192,392,094	22.43 %	4,458,003,514	1
1975	926,240,885	2.28 %	19,727,898	-221,096	20.3	4.85	99	17.3 %	160,244,444	22.70 %	4,079,480,606	1
1970	827,601,394	2.70 %	20,676,485	-32,000	19.3	6.30	88	17.3 %	143,513,192	22.36 %	3,700,437,046	1
1965	724,218,968	1.86 %	12,762,182	-225,145	19.8	6.15	77	18.0 %	130,684,595	21.69 %	3,339,583,597	1
1960	660,408,056	1.53 %	9,633,300	-11,900	21.3	5.48	70	16.1 %	106,561,743	21.76 %	3,034,949,748	1
1955	612,241,554	2.00 %	11,564,456	-51,205	22.2	6.11	65	13.8 %	84,639,825	22.08 %	2,773,019,936	1