The birth rate in China plummeted to a record-low last year according to the data has reported. Experts have warned of faster than expected aging could be seen in the coming times which can lead to the deepening of the economic growth concerns of the nation.
China has been struggling with a demographic crisis as it has a workforce that is aging very rapidly slowing down the economy and making it the weakest population growth in the past few decades. The second-biggest economy in the world recorded a birth rate of 7.52 births per one thousand people. It slippers down from 8.52 in 2020 as per the data according to the National Bureau of Statistics on Monday.
This is the lowest ever figure since 1987 to be logged in China’s annual Statistical Yearbook Data. It is also the lowest data regarding the birth rate since Communist China was founded in 1949 which is also the time when the statistics bureau began collecting the data. The one-child policy of the nation which houses the world’s largest population was relaxed back in 2016. It now allows couples to give birth to 2 children and also eases one of the strictest regulations regarding family planning in the world. These changes however have failed to bring in the baby boom which was expected by the government. It can be attributed to the high cost of urban living that has deterred people from having more children.
The policy also allowed for couples to have three children last year. There were 10.62 million births recorded last year as per the official data. The birth rate in 2020 was 12 million. The natural growth rate of the nation has gone down to 0.034 per one thousand in 2021 people from 1.45 previously which is the lowest since 1960, the data suggested. In 2020, there were 8.52 births per 1000 people. The chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management has said that the demographic challenge was well known but the speed of the population aging is rapid than was expected. He also stated that China’s population might have peaked in 2021.
This was the fifth consecutive year of the birth rates declining. The country’s population may have reached a zero-growth period now. Demographically speaking, the new births have exceeded the deaths. The number of deaths reported last year was 10.14 million and new births have fallen down by 18 percent. Factors such as delay in marriage and births due to the fertility concepts of couples. It is more important than ever to encourage fertility to increase the population to improve China’s economical condition.
