Chinese authorities have sounded the alarm as the Asian nation experiences its first population decline in the last 60 years which is being thought of as the beginning of a demographic crisis.
Moscow reported that deaths last year outnumbered births and experts are anticipating major implications for the nation, its economy, and the rest of the world. The situation comes amid China holding the title of the world's most populous country.
China's Population Decline
On Tuesday, the Chinese government said that 9.65 million people were born last year while 10.41 million people died. It is the first time that births have been outnumbered by deaths since the Great Leap Forward, which was Mao Zedong's failed economic experiment that led to famine and deaths across the country.
For years, Chinese officials have tried to slow down the arrival of such a moment by loosening a one-child policy and offering incentives to encourage families to have children. However, none of their attempts have worked.
Now, as China comes to grips with a population decline, coupled with a long-running rise in life expectancy, the Asian nation has been placed into a demographic crisis. It would have consequences for Moscow and other countries, as per the New York Times.
The data released on Tuesday also shows that China's economy last year had one of its worst observed performances since 1976, which was the year that Mao died. In the last 40 years, the Asian nation has emerged as an economic powerhouse and the world's factory floor.
The evolution of the country from widespread poverty to the world's second-largest economy led to an increase in life expectancy. This contributed to the current population decline because people were living longer while fewer babies were being born.
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China's Demographic Crisis
The situation also hastened another concerning issue, the day when China will not have enough people who were of working age to fuel its growth. A professor of sociology at the University of California at Irvine, Wang Feng, who specializes in China's demographics, said that in the long term, China is going to change and will no longer be the young, vibrant, growing population that it was known to be.
The drop in China's population allows India to compete in being the world's most populous nation as the United Nations predicted last year that India would have a population of 1.412 billion in 2022. However, officials said that they do not expect India to overtake China until this year, according to Reuters.
The president and chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management, Zhiwei Zhang, said that China's population will likely trickle down from now and in the following years. He said that this was particularly important because of its implications on growth and domestic demand.
Furthermore, the country's birth rate fell to a record low of 6.77 births per 1,000, which went down from 7.52 a year earlier and has been the lowest recorded since the founding of Communist China in 1949. The reports come after the Asian nation's economy only expanded by 3%, well below the government's target, said CNN.
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