This is according to the national bureau of statistics showed the population of China is down by 850 thousand in 2022.
It also showed a record low birth weight and the highest death rate since 1976. China’s population is still 1.4 Billion and includes in all 31 provinces and regions but it does not include the residents of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, as well as foreigners living on the mainland. Statistics for 2022 showed an aging population, a shrinking labor force, low birth, and high death rates, with more men than women and city-dwellers vastly outnumbering the countryside.
Chinese demographers attribute this to the longlisting impact of the ‘one child’ policy, which was only relaxed in 2015. Though the policy was officially ended in 2015 and Beijing has encouraged families to start having three children since 2021, the demographic incentives have not caught up with trends yet.
