China’s population fell for the first time in more than 60 years. The country ended the one-child policy years ago, but the birth rate has not started to grow as hoped.
The population of the world’s most populous country has declined for the first time since 1961.
China According to Statistics Finland, the population decreased by 850,000 people last year, and at the end of 2022 was slightly more than 1.4 billion, or exactly 1,411,750,000.
The last time China’s population decreased was in 1961, when there was a great famine in the country Mao Zedong’s as a result of a badly failed agricultural policy. The experiment was known as the “Great Leap Forward”.
There were also more deaths than births last year, i.e. 7.37 deaths per thousand inhabitants, while the birth rate remained at 6.77 children per thousand women.
Abandoning the one-child policy did not increase the birth rate
China’s birth rate has been declining for years. China has tried to change the downward trend by allowing a higher number of children: in 2016 two children were allowed and in 2021 already three children.
The historical change in direction away from the so-called one-child policy has not brought the desired change. Chinese families have not wanted to start having more children, among other things, because raising and educating children is considered expensive.
China regulated the population with a harsh policy in the 1980s, fearing a population explosion. More than one child was allowed only in exceptional cases, such as for ethnic minorities.
Violators of the policy were punished with fines or even loss of job.
The population is expected to continue to decline
The one-child policy was abandoned because the country’s leadership was worried about how to manage the aging population and maintain continuous economic growth.
Experts predict that the population will continue to decline. Also in many other developed Asian economies, such as Japan and South Korea, the birth rate has decreased and the care of the growing elderly population is causing concern.
According to experts, China has to rely more and more on productivity growth in its economy.
There are still significantly more men than women
The consequences of the one-child policy can also be seen in the fact that there are more men than women in China. Population regulation led in many cases to the fact that girl children were aborted.
At the end of 2022, there were approximately 722 million men and approximately 690 million women in China.
China has long been considered the world’s most populous country, but according to forecasts, India is about to take the number one spot.
Source: AFP, Reuters, AP