China's first population drop in six decades sounds alarm on demographic crisis
Chinese city dwellers head to hometowns as holidays raise COVID stakes. PHOTO: REUTERS
China’s population fell last year for the first time in six decades, a historic turn that is expected to mark the start of a long period of decline in its citizen numbers with profound implications for its economy and the world.
The country’s National Bureau of Statistics reported a drop of roughly 850,000 people for a population of 1.41175 billion in 2022, marking the first decline since 1961, the last year of China’s Great Famine.
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That possibly makes India the world’s most populous nation. UN experts predicted last year India would have a population of 1.412 billion in 2022 though they did not expect the South Asian nation to overtake China until this year.