China's Population Drops

China, which is known as the most populous country in the world, has recently experienced a shrink in its overall population. A recent China demographic shows that the national population has plummeted for the first time in 60 years. The record by the National Bureau of Statistics shows that the population is down by 850,000 people from 1.4118 billion to 1.4126 billion in a year. The number of babies born in 2021 falls by 9.55 million from 9.56 million.

China's population included 31 provinces, excluding Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau. Foreigners do not belong as well. Apart from high death rate which is the commonly known natural cause of population decline, many factors including sluggish interest in the idea of marriage, a rise in the cost of raising children, and the notorious Covid-19 outbreak were to be blamed for the China population decline.

Meanwhile, the major factor was the earlier one-child policy imposed between 1980-2015 which prevented many Chinese from having more than one child or even discouraged them to have any at all.

China's population downturn began in 2016, and Beijing has intelligently rolled out some calming policies to reverse the trend such as cash handouts, education discounts, more robust social security, etc.

Nonetheless, there is a slow in natural birth rates to a record low of 6.77 from 7.52 births for every 1000 people last year combined with deepening ageing crises. In the past, China's economic development was powered by the working- age. And according to economists and demographers, China will struggle with a decreasing workforce, spending power and a more unusual pension system. This will consequently have a long-term effect on their economic growth.

The United Nations forecasted that with China's decline in population, India will overtake China as the world's most populous country by the end of 2023. Also, China's population is expected to fall to around 1.313 billion by 2050 and further below 800 million by 2100.