Beautiful Virgin Islands

Monday, Oct 06, 2025

China has recorded its slowest population growth in decades, new census reveals

China has recorded its slowest population growth in decades, new census reveals

China's population grew at its slowest rate in decades in the 10 years prior to 2020, according to census data released on Tuesday - a trend that could pose serious issues for the world's second-largest economy.

According to China's National Bureau of Statistics, the population rose by 5.38% over the past decade — or 72 million people — to 1.41 billion people.

The latest data represents an average annual population growth rate of 0.53%, which was 0.04% lower than the annual growth rate reported between 2000 and 2010. It's the slowest growth rate for China since at least the 1960s.

The figures also raise the prospect of a demographic crisis for the world's most populous nation, with a falling birth rate and rapidly aging work force threatening to curtail its rapid economic growth.

National Bureau of Statistics head Ning Jizhe said the falling growth rate was a result of couples putting off having children longer and the rising costs of raising a family. Ning said the number of women at child-bearing age was also declining.

"In the future, at some time, China's population will peak some day but there are still uncertainties. For some time to come, China's total population will be kept at above 1.4 billion," he said, adding China would have an "abundant labor force ... for some time to come."

One-child policy reversal


China launched its seventh national census on November 1 last year, sending 7 million workers to count its massive population amid a global pandemic.

In recent years, the Chinese government has battled to reverse declining population growth as it faces the reality of fewer workers supporting an increasingly aging society.

China's slowing population growth is partially a result of its one-child policy, which was introduced in 1979 and for more than 35 years limited couples to only one child.

Three years after the policy was enacted, China's third national census reported average annual population growth of 2.1% over the past 18 years, with the population nearly doubling between 1964 and 1982.

The government said in 2015 it would change the one-child policy to allow up to two children, but China's birth rate has struggled to recover.

The 2020 census, the first since the policy's removal, showed a slight rise in the proportion of citizens aged below 14 — from 16.6% in 2010 to 17.95% in 2020 — but not enough to reverse the overall trend of an aging population with a slowing growth rate.

The data also shows the number of newborns registered in China in 2020 dropped by almost 15% year-on-year, from 11.79 million in 2019 to 10.03 million.

Yong Cai, Professor of Sociology at the University of North Carolina said China was changing from a "high fertility, high mortality" country to a "low fertility, low mortality" combination. "The Chinese government is very aware of that and society is, you know, aware of that and the structural adjustment is ongoing," he said.

'Major headwind' to China's economy


As a result of the falling birth rate, China's work force is aging, and the government is worried the changing demographics could lead to rising pension costs and falling economic growth.

The 2020 census data showed the proportion of the population aged over 65 rose rapidly, from 8.87% in 2010 to 13.5% in 2020.

Cai said the rise of the elderly population was a "major headwind" for the Chinese economy. "[But] China is not alone in this. You know most of even middle-income countries are in this category. The entire world is now getting into the reality that we are all aging together," he said.

The Chinese government has discussed raising the retirement age to deal with the aging workforce — currently men retire at 60, while women can stop working at 55 for white collar employees and 50 for laborers.

Despite the slowing population growth, Stuart Gietel-Basten, professor of social science and public policy at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, said there were a number of positives from the 2020 census data for China.

"The sex ratio at birth looks to have come down quite a lot, which means that the sex-selection abortion against girls looks to be down. Illiteracy rates are going down, the number of people with university education has gone up very sharply," he said.

"It's less important when [China] clicks over to population decline, what's more important is how much population adapts to an era of no growth."

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
×