China’s population growth rate has slowed significantly and is expected to be negative by 2025, the state-backed reported, citing a senior health official.Birth data released late Sunday showed the number of new babies born in 2021 was the lowest in decades in several provinces. The number of births in the central province of Hunan fell below 500,000 for the first time in nearly 60 years, the report says. China’s southern province of Guangdong alone had more than 1 million newborns.
China is struggling to reverse a rapid decline in natural population growth – the difference between births and deaths – as many young people choose not to have children due to factors such as high child-rearing costs and work pressures.China’s population is expected to start shrinking between 2021-2025, the report says , citing Yang Wenzhuang, head of population and family affairs at the National Health Commission.Last year’s change to Chinese laws allowing women to have three children has not helped, and many women say the change comes too late and they lack job security and gender equality.
