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China Sees Lowest Population Growth in Decades

China is battling to reverse a rapid shrinkage in natural population growth as many young people opt not to have children because of the high costs


The number of Chinese people getting married fell last year to the lowest in more than three decades.
Covid deaths and the weak economy have slowed China's growth rate dramatically, demographers say. File photo: Tingshu Wang, Reuters.

 

China’s population is likely to contract ahead of 2025 as the number of new births in 2021 plummeted to the lowest in decades across provinces, Global Times reported, citing a senior health official.

The number of births in central Hunan province fell below 500,000 for the first time in nearly 60 years, the state news outlet said, indicating a significant slowdown in population growth.

Only China’s southern Guangdong province has had more than 1 million new births, it said, citing birth data released late on Sunday.

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 2021-25, 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.

 

  • Reuters with additional editing by Jim Pollard

 

 

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Jim Pollard

Jim Pollard is an Australian journalist based in Thailand since 1999. He worked for News Ltd papers in Sydney, Perth, London and Melbourne before travelling through SE Asia in the late 90s. He was a senior editor at The Nation for 17+ years and has a family in Bangkok.