China's population declined last year for the first time in more than six decades, according to official figures released today, pointing to a demographic crisis in the world's most populous country.
"By the end of 2022, the national population was 1,411.75 million," the National Bureau of Statistics (NSO) in Beijing reported, specifying that this is "a decrease of 0.85 million from the end of 2021."
The NSO specified that the number of births was 9.56 million and 10.41 million deaths were recorded.
The country's birth rate fell to historic levels due to the aging of the population, an accelerated decline that, according to analysts, could affect economic growth and put pressure on public finances.
The last time China's population declined was in 1960, when the country faced the worst famine in its modern history, caused by Mao Zedong's agricultural policy called the Great Leap Forward.
China abolished in 2016 its strict one-child policy, imposed in the 1980s due to fears of overpopulation, and in 2021 began allowing couples to have three children.