China sees drop in its population first time since 1961

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In the first time in 60 years, China saw a drop in its population. The national birth rate of the most populated country in the world was 6.77 births per 1,000 women.

The total population of China in 2022 was 1.4118 billion - fell by 850,000 from 2021. The birth rate of the country has been steadily declining, which is a direct result of many policies that government came up with. But seven years after scrapping the one-child policy, it has entered what one official described as an "era of negative population growth”.

The deaths also outnumbered the births in the country. China logged its highest death rate since 1976 - 7.37 deaths per 1,000 people, up from 7.18 the previous year.

An ageing population and falling birth rates have been slowing down other developed economies in Asia, such as South Korea and Japan.

This population decline is the result of one-child policy that came into existence in 1979 to slow down the population growth. Families that violated the rules were fined and in some cases even lost jobs.

In October 2022, Chinese president Xi Jinping made boosting birth rates a priority. Mr Xi said in a once-in-five-year Communist Party Congress in Beijing that his government will "pursue a proactive national strategy" in response to the country's ageing population.