China’s overall population fell by 850,000 year on year to 1.4118 billion in 2022, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced on January 17. This was the first time China registered negative population growth in 61 years.
About 9.56 million babies were born last year, 1.06 million fewer than the 2021 number. The birth rate stood at 6.77 births per 1,000 people in 2022, down from 7.52 in 2021. Both figures were the lowest since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949.
By comparison, in 2021, the United States recorded 11.06 births per 1,000 people. The birth rate for the same year in India, poised to overtake China as the world’s most populous country, stood at 16.42.
Deaths surpassed births last year in China.
