China’s birth rate falls to near 60-year low, with 2019 producing fewest babies since 1961
- Chinese mothers gave birth to 14.65 million babies last year, the lowest level since 1961, the government announced on Friday
- China’s overall population continued to grow, rising to 1.4 billion at the end of the year from 1.39 billion a year earlier
The number of newborn babies in China sunk to a near six-decade low last year, reinforcing worries about the cost of a lower birth rate on the economy and the country’s ability to support its rapidly ageing population in the year ahead.
China’s overall population continued to grow, rising to 1.4 billion at the end of the year from 1.39 billion a year earlier.
The weak birth data was within the expectations of many veteran demographers who for years called for the Chinese government to abandon its one-child birth policy – which ended in 2016 – because of the damage it would do to future economic growth and the nation’s ability to support its ageing population. Fewer births mean fewer wage earners and fewer consumers in the future.
In 2019, China’s economy grew 6.1 per cent from a year earlier, the lowest since 1990, according to the NBS.
The working aged population between 16 and 59 years old was 896.4 million at the end of last year, accounting for 64 per cent of the total population. The number of Chinese aged over 60 was 253.8 million, or some 18 per cent of the national total.