Explainer | Is China’s population a cause for concern?

China’s overall population continued to grow in 2020, rising to 1.412 billion people, up from 1.4 billion a year earlier

Chinese mothers gave birth to just 12 million babies in 2020 – the lowest total since 11.87 million in 1961 amid the Great Chinese Famine

Reading Time:7 minutes

Beijing began releasing demographic data in May from its 2020 population census, and China’s working-age population is expected to decline rapidly in the coming years. Photo: AFP

Published: 7:00pm, 22 May 2021Updated: 5:22pm, 11 Aug 2021

What is China’s population?

China’s overall population continued to grow in 2020, rising to 1.412 billion at the end of the year from 1.4 billion a year earlier.

Beijing began releasing the results of its seventh national population census on in early May 2021, and the results showed the number of new births fell for the fourth consecutive year in 2020, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

China's population by decade (1950-2020)

Year	Population (in millions)
1950	552
1960	662.1
1970	829.9
1980	987.1
1990	1143.3
2000	1267.4
2010	1340.9
2020	1412

SCMP

Source: National Bureau of Statistics

The once-a-decade census was conducted in late 2020, but the data release ended up being twice postponed in 2021 – first from early April to late April, and then to an indefinite date in the future.

Earlier in 2021, various provinces and cities in the world’s most populous country disclosed their own birth data through government and state media reports. In some cases, birth rates declined more than 30 per cent in 2020 from a year earlier.

China is also ageing at an unprecedented rate due to its previous old one-child policy.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x