Deaths Outnumber Births in China; Population on Decline

Chinese population declined by 850,000 people in 2022. During the past year around 1.04 crore deaths occurred in China. But during the same period, the number of new births was 95.6 lakh. This data was reported by China’s National Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday.

China has shown such a decline in population for the first time in over 60 years. Meanwhile, the country’s health authorities have accepted that around 60,000 people died of Covid-19 in Chinese hospitals between December 8, 2022, and January 12, 2023.

Economic experts feel this declining population trend may prove to be a bane for China in the long run. As fewer children are born and more people get old in China, a day will come sooner when the country will not have sufficient manpower to keep its economy rejuvenated.

Cautioned by it, China has started to initiate steps to check the declining birth rate. In 2016,  the strict one-child policy was scrapped after 35 years, allowing families to have two children. In 2021, couples were allowed to have three children. Beijing has started offering cash handouts, tax cuts, and even property concessions to couples opting to have more than one child.