Number of births in China 2013-2023

In 2023, around 9.02 million babies were born in China. The number of births has decreased gradually from 17.86 million in 2016.

Demographic development in China

In 2022, the Chinese population decreased for the first time in decades, and population decline is expected to accelerate in the upcoming years. To curb the negative effects of an aging population, the Chinese government decided in 2013 to gradually relax the so called one-child-policy, which had been in effect since 1979. From 2016 onwards, parents in China were allowed to have two children in general. However, as the recent figures of births per year reveal, this policy change had only short-term effects on the general birth rate: the number of births slightly increased from 2014 onwards, but then started to fell again in 2018. In 2023, China was the second most populous country in the world, overtaken by India that year.

China’s aging population

The Chinese society is aging rapidly and facing a serious demographic shift towards older age groups. The median age of China’s population has increased massively from about 18 years in 1970 to 36 years in 2015 and is projected to rise continuously until 2080. In 2010, approximately 13 percent of the Chinese were 60 years and older, a figure that is forecast to rise as high as 42 percent by 2060. This shift in demographic development will increase social and elderly support expenditure of the society as a whole. One measure for this social imbalance is the old-age dependency ratio, measuring the relationship between economic dependent older age groups and the working-age population. The old-age dependency ratio in China is expected to soar to 66 percent in 2060, implying that by then three working-age persons will have to support two elderly persons.