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China recorded its third consecutive year of population decline in 2024, despite the country’s first rise in births in nearly a decade in a year traditionally considered auspicious.
Figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Friday show the country will record 9.54 million births in 2024, behind 10.93 million deaths but a bump on last year’s 9 million births as Chinese families mark the Year of the Dragon, believed to be an auspicious zodiac sign. is
This increase was the first birth increase since 2016 and the total population left the country at 1.408 billion. India will overtake China as the world’s most populous country in 2023.
China’s declining population, which fell for the first time in 2022 six decadesStemming from a 1980s policy — which ended in 2016 — that limited most couples to just one child, the population averaged below 2.1 to remain stable.
Analysts say economic pressures have also pushed birth rates down as the country struggles with sluggish growth.
Policymakers are pursuing options such as automation and robotics to maintain high levels of productivity, as well as encouraging couples to have more children. Subsidies, tax breaks and cajoling.
