China sees population decline for first time in over 60 years

The population of China at the end of 2022 for the first time since 1961 decreased by 850 thousand people. As of the end of 2022, 1,41175 billion people lived in China, compared to 1,41260 billion a year earlier. These data are provided by the National Bureau of Statistics of China.

Thus, China, whose population had previously been growing, entered a period of population decline. If earlier the Chinese government imposed restrictions on the number of children born, now the country's leadership is already demonstrating the opposite approach to demographic planning. After all, the decline in the population and its aging are fraught with far from the best political and economic consequences for China.

Yi Fuxian, an obstetrics and gynecology researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an expert on China's population change, points out that China's population decline has come ten years earlier than expected. The real demographic crisis in China is very large, which requires a prompt response from the country's leadership.

Cai Fang, Vice Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the National People's Congress, noted that China reached its population peak in 2022. Now the population of the country will decrease. To avoid population decline, the Chinese authorities have begun to stimulate the birth rate. The country's new demographic policy provides for easing the financial and social burden of raising children.

A number of provinces in China have already introduced cash payments for the second or third child. For example, the city of Shenzhen pays 37 yuan ($500) as an incentive for a family with three children. But to achieve an increase in the birth rate in China is not so simple. After all, many Chinese couples are already accustomed to the fact that they have to give birth to one child.

The head of the National Bureau of Statistics, Kang Yi, reassures the citizens of the PRC: until recently, the supply of labor in China exceeded demand, and people should not worry about population decline. However, there is no doubt that China's social and demographic policy needs to be improved.

For example, sooner or later, a very big problem will be the provision of pensions for hundreds of millions of Chinese old people. Finally, it is necessary to adjust the pricing policy: housing, medical services, education are not so cheap that people can afford to have many children.

Comments

[Arkady007]

Entered the taste of life. This is the pattern of states that have tasted the level of a good life.

[Orange Bigg]

It's just that the process of growth always has its limit. What will the population of China do if it continues to grow?

[Lionnvrsk]

Quote from Orange Bigg

It's just that the process of growth always has its limit.

There is an opinion that when even with the ban on the birth of a second child in China, the population was steadily growing, it was growth only on paper, organized by certain structures in China.
It seems that now the statistics are becoming more adequate.

[Doccor18]

Quote from Orange Bigg

What will China's population do if it continues to grow?

This is one side of the coin.
Another - what will happen to the economy against the background of an increase in the aging dynamics? Who will feed the hundreds of millions of elderly people? Yes, and with pensions there is not so simple ...

[Boycott]

What will China's population do if it continues to grow?

Africans do not bother with such issues, they breed like rabbits. As the colleague said above, there is a direct relationship between the standard of living and fertility. More precisely, the opposite.

[petroglyph]

To settle... The "northern territory" is especially promising for them. The Chinese Dragon thinks decades ahead and is in no hurry. Yes, and now the reduction in numbers is from the evil one - firstly, the Chinese are traveling all over the planet, and secondly, maybe this is not true and China is thinking about the future? And what if there are funds, then people are the best investment at this stage. With economics, they have taken a leading position, now we need to take care of people, or rather, their reproduction

[ratoborets]

What will China's population do if it continues to grow?

Every country has 100% population. And what matters is its distribution (the percentage of workers and the percentage of dependents, children and the elderly) and the employment of the population.

In Soviet times, the population was 290 million and continued to grow, people had work and a future.
In Russia, the population is half the size of 146 million and is declining, and there are millions without work.

[NDR-791]

Quote: Arkady007

This is the pattern of states that have tasted the level of a good life.

Yep, it really affects us. Or are we "living better, living more fun"?

[Orange Bigg]

Quote: NDR-791

Quote: Arkady007

This is the pattern of states that have tasted the level of a good life.

Yep, it really affects us. Or are we "living better, living more fun"?

Judging by the demographics of the Baltic countries or Ukraine, they tasted the most.

[Doccor18]

Quote: NDR-791

Quote: Arkady007

This is the pattern of states that have tasted the level of a good life.

Yep, it really affects us. Or are we "living better, living more fun"?

Rather, it is a product of Western psychology, where “life for oneself” is cultivated everywhere, then “life for a career”, and somewhere there ... family and children, if there is enough strength and desire.
In Muslim and Buddhist countries, life is far from sugary, but the birth rate is high, because the psychology is different: the foundation of everything is the family, and children are the most important investment in the future of the family.
Until psychology changes, nothing will change. And there is no income here.

[Sergej1972]

South Korea and Japan have low birth rates. It has been greatly reduced in Turkey and especially in Iran. Belonging to Islam or Buddhism does not guarantee a high birth rate; other factors also operate.

[Boycott]

And when did Russia follow global trends in general? We have our own way, our own rake.

[I dare to_notice_]

"Everything has its own morality, you just need to be able to find it!" (With)
There was no need to regulate and prohibit.
Is forbidden fruit always sweet?
And so ... "let everything take its course", the little people themselves are tired of multiplying.
No, well, really ... It's ridiculous to poke a living person with a pip? )))
In addition, the Chinese began to live better ... they accumulated fat ... the need for the survival of the population has disappeared ...

[Nikolay310]

in Russia, the natural population decline manifested itself under Yeltsin ... Do you really think that in 1995 Russia accumulated fat and moved into the category of prosperous countries?

By the way, what then happened to the Russian Federation in the period from 2012 to 2016, when natural growth resumed??? apparently, Russia fell out of "prosperity" for 5 years, but returned to it in 2020 and subsequent years, when Russia lost 2 million people in three years ...

something seems to me that the opposite was true ... and it was the collapse of the economy and the country that led to the demographic tragedy of the 90s, the improvement of life and stability returned the situation to zero or even modest growth ...

[KolVisin]

"the need for the survival of the population has disappeared ..." - It disappeared a long time ago when the infant mortality rate decreased. My grandmother, for example, had six children, and two survived. But these two are the strongest. Now almost everyone survives, but the quality of the human population ... . However, this is a completely different topic.

[Doccor18]

Quote: Kolvizin

It disappeared a long time ago when the infant mortality rate dropped.

It disappeared when there was no need to graze the cows, mow hay, prepare firewood, plow the field, etc. etc. You won't get much done alone. You need from the heels of sons, well, and daughters, how many God will send ... It was the village that was the demographic foundation of any state. In the villages, they always gave birth to a lot, everywhere.

[ALARI]

Not bad, I see their covid thinned out too. And this is only official data. Going by their law, one family one child, they planted such a mine for themselves.

[Boromir1941]

good life ends sooner or later

[Kostadinov]

in Russia, the natural population decline manifested itself under Yeltsin ... Do you really think that in 1995 Russia accumulated fat and moved into the category of prosperous countries?

There are various reasons for the decline in the population (mortality is higher than the birth rate).
1. Due to wars or economic and political crises
2. Because of the rise in the standard of living and the migration of the population from the countryside to the cities.
There is an indicator - infant mortality, thanks to which they can be distinguished.
Since infant mortality in the PRC is declining, their population is declining due to an increase in living standards (as was the case in Germany, Sweden, and so on).

[Kuziming]

The way of life has completely changed.
There was a great urbanization.
Families with rural roots:
Old people take care of the house, take the grandson / granddaughter for the holidays; grandchildren live in the city, study at a boarding school, parents are "internal migrant workers" in large industrial zones.
The middle class is small, it is difficult to maintain its standard of living without a child, there are no incentives to start a family.
Previously, with the "one family one child" policy, they more often got rid of female fetuses, as a result, a terrible preponderance of men with a shortage of young women, problems of mass homosexuality, single men / social losers.

[rotmistr60]

This is nothing but covid spoiled the statistics. Yes, and the Chinese youth probably do not seek to quickly have children in pursuit of their own mercantile goals.

[16112014nk]

For China, a single 0,06% decline in population will not even be noticed. But in Russia every year the decline in almost a million people is very noticeable. But our authorities do not care about this at all.

[Serg65]

Quote: 16112014nk

our authorities do not care about this at all.

Are you suggesting that the authorities start fertilizing the population?

[16112014nk]

Quote: Serg65

Are you suggesting that the authorities start fertilizing the population?

Chinese authorities have begun to stimulate the birth rate.

Our authorities, unlike the Chinese, do not even express "concern".

[Serg65]

Quote: 16112014nk

Our authorities, unlike the Chinese, do not even express "concern".

Of course, they don’t express ... they just buy newborns, the population, you see, was not hired to give birth for free!

[Nikolay293]

Recently I compared the salaries and expenses of my family in Soviet times and now. Under the USSR, two working people in a family could feed, pay a communal apartment, etc. themselves and their three children. Now almost all families with three children and both working parents are low-income. This is the main reason for the negative population growth in Russia.

[Got it]

In general, the growth and decline of the population is not an easy topic, it is not just the level of income of the population that is important, there are also such factors as confidence in the future, social support, and the attitude of the state towards the citizen. For example:
The beginning of the 20th century in the USA the population is about 70 million, in the Russian Empire (without peripheries) 70 million.
The beginning of the 21st century in the US 340 million? too lazy to look for information, in Russia 145 million, almost like in small Japan
We like to argue with losses in the Second World War, the filthy 90s, yeah, just such a difference with the USA at 5! times it explains. Rave. The main attitude of the state, the authorities towards their people, is disregard, a person will not give birth in conditions of poverty, stress, uncertainty and security, primarily internal. For comparison, the birth rate in the Russian Empire at the beginning of the same 20th century was 2,5 million per year. The beginning of the 21st century - a population decline of 2,5 million per year. Something is not right here, obviously not the Second World War and not the 90s, the reasons are long-term and deep. How is it there? existential

[Nikolay293]

First, compare the territory of the Russian Empire and modern Russia. After the revolution and the collapse of the USSR, small in percentage terms, but a lot of populated territories left us. If we take the territory of the former USSR, plus Poland, plus Finland, that's 300 million plus. Moreover, in addition to natural growth, there are a lot of migrants in the United States, and the losses of Americans in World War II are small compared to the USSR.

[Sergej1972]

It is incorrect to count all of Poland. After all, part of the Polish lands was part of Austria and Germany. The former Russian Poland now makes up 43 percent of the territory of the Republic of Poland.

[UAZ 452]

Well, in the US, population growth is mostly not at the expense of the white population either. And the success in breeding African Americans and Hispanics there is far from pleasing to everyone.

[Sergej1972]

It's quite complicated there. Some believing white Americans, especially Protestants, have a good birth rate. As for the Latinos, they are heterogeneous in many respects. It is one thing for immigrants from, say, Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala. And another thing is people from Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, for the most part in mentality and appearance similar to Americans of Italian, Spanish, Greek origin.

[Sergej1972]

In the case of the United States, the factor of mass emigration to the country must also be taken into account.