China’s population fell last year for the third year in a row, its government said on Friday, pointing to other challenges facing the world’s overpopulated world, which is now grappling with an aging population and a shrinking working-age population.

China’s population stood at 1.408 billion by the end of 2024, a decrease of 1.39 million from last year.

The figures announced by the government in Beijing follow trends around the world, particularly in East Asia, where Japan, South Korea and other countries have seen their birth rates drop. China three years ago they joined Japan and most of Eastern Europe among other countries whose population is declining.

In most cases the reasons are the same: Rising prices are causing young people to delay or prevent marriage and childbearing as they seek higher education and work. Although people are living longer, it is not enough to keep up with the new birth.

Countries like China that allow very few immigrants are at great risk.

China has long been among the most populous countries in the world, enduring invasions, floods and other natural disasters to advance the people who enjoy rice in the south and wheat in the north. After the end of World War II and the Communist Party’s rule in 1949, large families were restored and the population doubled in just three decades, despite tens of millions of deaths in the Great Leap Forward which sought to revolutionize agriculture and industry. . The Cultural Revolution that followed a few years later.

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After the end of the Cultural Revolution and the death of leader Mao Zedong, Communist officials became concerned that the country’s population was outgrowing its ability to feed itself and began implementing the “one child policy”. Although it was not the law, women had to apply for permission to have a child and violators could be forced into late-term abortions and birth control methods, paying large fines and the prospect of having their child’s number revoked, resulting in statelessness. .

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In rural China, where the love of sons was very strong and two children are still allowed, it became the main target of the government’s efforts, when women were forced to give evidence that they were bathing in houses marked with the words “have fewer children, live better”. children.”

The government wanted to end the arbitrary abortion of girls, but since abortion was legal and readily available, people using pornographic machines had a thriving business.

This has been a major factor in China’s high sex ratio, where as many as a million boys are born for every 100 girls, raising the possibility of social unrest among China’s army of lovers. Friday’s report gave the gender gap as 104.34 men for every 100 women, although independent groups report a greater imbalance.

Of particular concern to the government was the birth rate, with China’s population declining for the first time in 2023 and China narrowly overtaking India as the world’s most populous country in the same year. An aging population, a shrinking workforce, a lack of consumer markets and immigration are putting the system under serious pressure.

As military spending and flashy housing projects continue to soar, China’s already fragile social security measures are increasingly turning out to pay unpaid pensions.

Currently, more than a fifth of the population is 60 years of age or older, and the legal population is 310.3 million or 22% of the total population. By the year 2035, this number is expected to exceed 30%, leading to discussions about changing the retirement age, which is one of the lowest in the world. With fewer students, some empty schools and kindergartens are being converted into nursing homes.

Such events provide evidence that China, which is now the second largest economy in the world but is facing serious problems, will “get old before it gets rich.”

Government incentives including child support for up to three children and financial support for house prices have had some problems for some time.

Meanwhile, China continued to urbanize, with more than 10 million people moving to cities and 67%, almost a percentage point higher than last year.

& copy 2025 The Canadian Press