China’s population declined for the third consecutive year in 2024, highlighting the ongoing demographic crisis facing the nation.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the population dropped by 1.39 million over the past year, reaching 1.408 billion, as deaths continued to surpass births.
China’s population has been on a gradual decline since the 1980s, but 2022 marked a historic shift when deaths surpassed births for the first time since 1961, during the Great Leap Forward, which caused a devastating famine that claimed around 20 million lives.
Despite Beijing’s attempts to address the declining birthrate, these efforts have failed to halt the long-term trend. The NBS acknowledged that the country is grappling with several significant challenges moving forward.
“We must be aware that the adverse effects brought by the external environment are increasing, the domestic demands are insufficient, some enterprises have difficulties in production and operation, and the economy is still facing difficulties and challenges,” the bureau said in its report.
Beijing has implemented a range of strategies to boost the birthrate, from social pressure on single women, labeling them as “leftovers” if they remain unmarried, to making divorce and abortion more difficult. The government has also introduced subsidies to help families cope with rising childcare costs.
Marriage rates saw a 12.4% increase in 2023, following the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, with a brief surge in births during the first half of 2024 in some regions. Additionally, the Year of the Dragon, traditionally associated with a baby boom in China and across Asia, did lead to some increase in births, though experts warn the overall trend remains downward.
China ended its decades-long “one-child policy” in 2016, but the legacy of this policy, combined with a cultural preference for male children, has created a skewed population that continues to pose demographic challenges.
