birth rate

China Records Lowest Birth Rate in Modern History in 2021

Data released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics on Monday showed births running only slightly ahead of deaths in 2021, providing further evidence that the Chinese population has stalled out at 1.413 billion and might already be declining – a fearsome prospect for an economic system designed on the assumption of stable or steadily-increasing population.

HUAINAN, CHINA - OCTOBER 01: Nurses take care of babies who were born on the National Day on October 1, 2017 in Huainan, China. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)

Census Shows China Inching Towards World’s Lowest Fertility Rate

China’s National Bureau of Statistics published the results of its 2020 national census Tuesday, revealing one of the most modest population increases in the country’s history and prompting panic in Chinese government media that the nation would soon have the world’s lowest fertility rate.

ZHANGJIAKOU, CHINA - OCTOBER 01: (CHINA OUT) A nursing worker takes care of new-born babies at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Hebei North University on October 1, 2015 in Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province of China. China has decided to abandon its 35-year-old one-child policy, allowing all couples to have two children, …