The number of people born in China has dropped dramatically | Business and Economic Affairs

Recent developments come as the government encourages people to have more children after years of doing differently.

The birth of Mainland China dropped to 7.52 per 1,000 people in 2021, the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Monday, magnifying the decline that led Beijing last year to start allowing couples to have three children.

China abolished decades-old one-child law in 2016, instead setting a two-child limit for the elderly, but many couples do not want more children because of the rising cost of living in the city.

The birth rate was the lowest since 1949 when the statistics office began collecting data.

The natural growth rate of the Chinese population, which does not include migration, was only 0.034 percent of 2021, the lowest since 1960.

“The demographic problem is well known but the aging rate is much faster than expected,” said Zhiwei Zhang, an economist at Pinpoint Asset management.

“This indicates that China’s population is likely to reach a peak in 2021. It also shows that China’s growth is slowing beyond expectations,” Zhang said.

There were 10.62 million births in 2021, which showed, compared to 12 million in 2020.

The birth rate in 2020 was 8.52 births per 1,000 people.