New Delhi, May 13: China continues to witness a sharp decline in population growth, with the country’s population shrinking for the fourth consecutive year amid falling birth and marriage rates.
The demographic trend is increasingly being viewed as a major long-term challenge for the Chinese economy, as a shrinking workforce and a rapidly ageing population place pressure on pension and healthcare systems while slowing economic growth.
According to data released by China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs of China, around 1.697 million couples registered marriages during the first three months of this year, down 6.24 percent compared to the same period last year.
The figure marked the lowest first-quarter marriage total since 2020, when 1.557 million couples tied the knot during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns in China. Traditionally, the first quarter is considered a peak wedding season due to the Chinese New Year holidays.
Despite repeated government efforts to encourage marriage and childbirth, China’s birth count dropped to a record low of 7.92 million last year. Official figures show that annual births have declined by more than 10 million since peaking in 2016.
China’s total population fell by 3.39 million last year to 1.4049 billion, according to official data. In absolute terms, it was the steepest annual population decline recorded in the country’s modern history, excluding the devastating famine between 1959 and 1961.
Analysts say the continuing demographic decline could have far-reaching consequences for China’s economic productivity, labour market, and social welfare systems in the coming decades.
