Monitoring desk
ISLAMABAD/BEIJING: China’s population fell the previous year for the first time in six decades, a historical turn expected to mark a start of a long period of decline in its number of people with profound implications for its economy and the globe.
According to Reuters, the worst drop since 1961, the previous year of China’s Great Famine, lends weight to predictions that India could become the world’s most populous nation this year.
Population declined by roughly 850,000 to 1.41bn in 2022
The country’s National Bureau of Statistics said China’s population declined by roughly 850,000 to 1.41175 billion in 2022. Long-term, United Nations (UN) experts see China’s population shrinking by 109 million by 2050, and more than the triple decline of the previous forecast in 2019.
That’s caused domestic demographers to lament that China could get old before it gets rich, slowing the economy as revenues drop, and the government debt rises due to soaring health and welfare costs.
Yi Fuxian demographer, said that “China’s demographic and economic outlook has much bleaker than expected. China could have to adjust its social, economic, defense and foreign policies,”.
He said that the country’s shrinking labour force and the downturn in manufacturing heft could further exacerbate high prices and increases inflation in Europe and the United States.
China’s birth rate the previous year was just 6.77 births per 1,000 citizens, down from a rate of 7.52 births in 2021, marking the low birth rate on record.
The death ratio, the highest since 1974 during Cultural Revolution, was 7.37 deaths per 1,000 citizens, which compares with a rate of 7.18 deaths in 2021.
Population experts have said that China’s stringent zero-provide-19 policies, which were in place for three years, have caused further damage to the country’s demographic outlook.
