China’s population has fallen for the third consecutive year amid falling birth rates and economic concerns.

China population Decline for third consecutive year In 2024, a demographic crisis continues to grip the East Asian superpower.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released a report on Friday saying, China’s population declines Deaths continued to exceed births over the past 12 months, rising by 1.39 million to 1.408 billion.

China’s population has been declining steadily since the 1980s, but 2022 marked the first time since 1961 that deaths exceeded births, when China was in the midst of its disastrous Great Leap Forward program, which resulted in a famine. An estimated 20 million people died of starvation.

Beijing’s recent efforts to slow the decline in birth rates have failed to slow the long-term trend, and the National Bureau of Statistics acknowledged that China faces some challenges.

“It must be noted that the adverse impact of the external environment has increased, domestic demand is insufficient, some enterprises have difficulties in production and operation, and economic operations are still facing difficulties and challenges,” the bureau said in the report.

Beijing has used a variety of carrots and sticks to boost birth rates, from labeling unmarried women as “leftover women” to making it harder to get divorced or have abortions and providing subsidies to couples to support childbearing. Childcare costs are rising.

After the COVID-19 pandemic ends, the number of marriages increased by 12.4% year-on-year in 2023, leading to a brief rebound in the number of births in the first half of 2024 in some parts of the country.

Last year was also China’s auspicious Year of the Dragon, which typically results in a small baby boom across Asia, but experts say the overall trend is downward.

China officially ended its decades-long “one-child policy” in 2016 in an attempt to control the country’s growth, but ultimately led to a population imbalance due to cultural preferences that favored sons over daughters.

As of 2021, families can now have three children, but rising living costs in urban areas, a slowing economy and high youth unemployment have made raising children less attractive for many young Chinese.

China’s economy will grow by 5% in 2024, in line with government forecasts, but gross domestic product (GDP) growth is expected to continue to slow in the coming years.

Faced with the demographic crisis, Beijing has taken new measures to gradually raise the legal retirement age for men from 60 to 63, for women in management and technical positions from 55 to 58, and for all other female employees from 55 to 58. 55 years old.

China is not the only country in East Asia facing a demographic crisis.

Japan, South Korea and Taiwan are also experiencing population declines for similar reasons to China, including immigration restrictions. Like much of East Asia, China does not allow unmarried women to undergo fertility treatments such as in vitro fertilization.