China’s population trends have over the years been largely shaped by the one-child policy, which was introduced in 1979 to slow population growth.
Families that violated the rules faced fines, loss of employment and sometimes forced abortions.
However, a census data recently released by the Chinese Government shows that the country’s population grew at its slowest pace in the last decade.
The average annual growth rate was 0.53% over the past 10 years, down from a rate of 0.57% between 2000 and 2010 – bringing the population to 1.41bn.
The results add pressure on Beijing to boost measures for couples to have more babies and avert a population decline.
The results were announced in a once-a-decade census, which was originally expected to be released in April.
The census was conducted in late 2020 where some seven million census takers had gone door-to-door to collect information from Chinese households.
Given the sheer number of people surveyed, it is considered the most comprehensive resource on China’s population, which is important for future planning.
Ning Jizhe, head of the National Bureau of Statistics revealed that 12 million babies were born last year – a significant decrease from the 18 million newborns in 2016.
However he stated that it was “still a considerable number”.
Mr Ning added that a lower fertility rate is a natural result of China’s social and economic development.
As countries become more developed, birth rates tend to fall due to education or other priorities such as careers.
Shrinking populations are problematic due to the inverted age structure, with more old people than the young.
When that happens, there won’t be enough workers in the future to support the elderly, and there may be an increased demand for health and social care.
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