Ad
Supported by
The fall came despite a slight rise in births last year, the first increase since 2016. State efforts to cajole women to have children have met resistance.
By Alexandra Stevenson and Zixu Wang
Hong Kong Reports
To get its citizens to have more children and stop its population from shrinking, China has tried it all, even declaring having babies an act of patriotism. And yet, for the third year in a row, its population got smaller.
Not even a wonder accumulated in the number of young children born, the first in seven years, may not simply be opposite to the course of an aging and decline population.
China is staring down a longer term baby bust that is rippling through the economy. Hospitals are shutting their obstetrics units, and companies that sold baby formula are idling factories. Thousands of kindergartens have closed and more than 170,000 preschool teachers lost their jobs in 2023.
The country’s birth rate, as an old infant garden in the southern city of Chongqing said, “falls from a cliff. ” The record for Chinese kindergartens fell more than five million in 2023, according to the maximum recently will be received.
On Friday, the Office for National Statistics reported that 9. 54 million young children were born last year, down from 9. 02 million in 2023. Consist of the number of other people who died in 2024 – 10. 93 million – China’s population has declined for a third year in a row.
Thanks for your patience while we review access. If you are in reading mode, leave and attach to your Times account, or subscribe to all the time.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
Already a subscriber? Sign in.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Advertisement