China’s population shrinks for first time since 1961

China’s population is reported to have shrunk for the first time in six decades!

As reported, mainland China’s population stood at approximately 1,411,750,000 at the end of 2022.

The country’s National Bureau of Statistics reported a drop of roughly 850,000 people for a population of 1.41175 billion in 2022.

This marks the first decline in the Chinese population since 1961, the last year of China’s Great Famine.

The number of births was 9.56 million, the NBS said, while the number of deaths stood at 10.41 million.

China’s birth rate last year was just 6.77 births per 1,000 people, down from a rate of 7.52 births in 2021 and marking the lowest birth rate on record.

United Nations experts believe that the long term, China’s population could reduce by 109 million by the year 2050, more than triple the decline of their previous forecast in 2019.