At the end of 2020, the birth rate in China turned out to be the worst since 1978. According to the annual report of the National Bureau of Statistics of the PRC, the birth rate fell to 8.52 children per 1000 people last year. A year earlier, this figure was 10.41 children.
The mortality rate in the country has remained at about the same level for several years now – just over seven deaths per 1000 people. As a result, the natural population growth for the year was only 1.45% – another anti-record, despite the fact that in the previous ten years, China’s population grew by an average of 5.5% per year.
The number of marriages also declined last year, falling to its lowest level in 17 years – only 8.14 million registered marriages.
The Chinese authorities, seriously concerned about the fall in the birth rate in the country, this year decided to abolish fines and other sanctions for the birth of a third child, and by 2025 to create a system of social policy to stimulate the birth rate.
Birth control under the slogan “One family, one child” has been in place in China since 1979. In 2013, the PRC authorities allowed families in which at least one of the parents was the only child in the family to have a second child. And in 2015, all Chinese families were allowed to have two children.
For more information on China’s new demographic policy, see Kommersant’s article “The Chinese Politburo Agree for Three”.
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