China's population shrinks in 2022, first time in 60 years

Beijing, Jan 17: China's population shrank last year for the first time in more than six decades, official data showed Tuesday, as the world's most populous nation faces a looming demographic crisis.

China's overall population plummeted by 850,000 people - to 1.4118 billion in 2022, from 1.4126 billion a year earlier, the Beijing's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said.

Mothers in China had 9.56 million babies last year, a 9.98 per cent drop from 10.62 million in 2021, according to reports.

The national death rate was 7.37 per thousand last year, putting the national growth rate at negative 0.6 per thousand people.

The country of 1.4 billion has seen birth rates plunge to record lows as its workforce ages, a rapid decline that analysts warn could stymie economic growth and pile pressure on strained public coffers.

Meanwhile, China's economy grew 3.0 percent in 2022, official data released on Tuesday showed, one of the weakest rates in 40 years owing to the Covid-19 pandemic and a real estate crisis.

The last time China's population declined was in 1960, as the country battled the worst famine in its modern history, caused by Mao Zedong's disastrous agricultural policy known as the Great Leap Forward.

It must be noted that China ended its strict "one-child policy" -- imposed in the 1980s due to fears of overpopulation -- in 2016, and in 2021 began allowing couples to have three children.