China's population falls for first time since 1961, highlights demographic crisis - Reuters

BEIJING/HONG KONG Jan 17 (Reuters) - China's colonisation fell past twelvemonth for the archetypal clip successful six decades, a historical crook that is expected to people the commencement of a agelong play of diminution successful its national numbers with profound implications for its system and the world.

The drop, the worst since 1961, the past twelvemonth of China's Great Famine, besides lends value to predictions that India volition go the world's astir populous federation this year.

China's colonisation declined by astir 850,000 to 1.41175 cardinal astatine the extremity of 2022, the country's National Bureau of Statistics said.

Long-term, U.N. experts spot China's colonisation shrinking by 109 cardinal by 2050, much than triple the diminution of their erstwhile forecast successful 2019.

That's caused home demographers to lament that China volition get aged earlier it gets rich, slowing the system arsenic revenues driblet and authorities indebtedness increases owed to soaring wellness and payment costs.

"China's demographic and economical outlook is overmuch bleaker than expected. China volition person to set its social, economic, defence and overseas policies," said demographer Yi Fuxian.

He added that the country's shrinking labour unit and downturn successful manufacturing heft would further exacerbate precocious prices and precocious ostentation successful the United States and Europe.

The nationalist statistic bureau said successful a connection that radical should not interest astir the diminution successful colonisation arsenic "overall labour proviso inactive exceeds demand".

China's commencement complaint past twelvemonth was conscionable 6.77 births per 1,000 people, down from a complaint of 7.52 births successful 2021 and marking the lowest commencement complaint connected record.

The decease rate, the highest since 1974 during the Cultural Revolution, was 7.37 deaths per 1,000 people, which compares with complaint of 7.18 deaths successful 2021.

ONE-CHILD POLICY IMPACT

Much of the demographic downturn is the effect of China's one-child argumentation imposed betwixt 1980 and 2015 arsenic good arsenic sky-high acquisition costs that person enactment galore Chinese disconnected having much than 1 kid oregon adjacent having immoderate astatine all.

The information was the apical trending taxable connected Chinese societal media aft the figures were released connected Tuesday. One hashtag,"#Is it truly important to person offspring?" had hundreds of millions of hits.

"The cardinal crushed wherefore women bash not privation to person children lies not successful themselves, but successful the nonaccomplishment of nine and men to instrumentality up the work of raising children. For women who springiness commencement this leads to a superior diminution successful their prime of beingness and spiritual life," posted 1 netizen with the username Joyful Ned.

China's stringent zero-COVID policies that were successful spot for 3 years person caused further damage to the country's demographic outlook, colonisation experts person said.

Local governments person since 2021 rolled retired measures to promote radical to person much babies, including taxation deductions, longer maternity permission and lodging subsidies. President Xi Jinping besides said successful October the authorities would enact further supportive policies.

Measures truthful far, however, person done small to apprehension the semipermanent trend.

Online searches for babe strollers connected China's Baidu hunt motor dropped 17% successful 2022 and are down 41% since 2018, portion searches for babe bottles are down much than a 3rd since 2018. In contrast, searches for aged attraction homes surged eight-fold past year.

The reverse is playing retired successful India, wherever Google Trends shows a 15% year-on-year summation successful searches for babe bottles successful 2022, portion searches for cribs roseate astir five-fold.

Reporting by Albee Zhang successful Beijing and Farah Master successful Hong Kong; Additional reporting by Kevin Yao successful Beijing; Editing by Edwina Gibbs

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