China’s population has declined for a fourth consecutive year, even as authorities intensify efforts to encourage citizens to have more children.
Data released on Monday showed that the world’s second-largest country recorded a population drop in 2025, falling to about 1.404 billion — roughly three million fewer people than in the previous year. More than ten years after scrapping its strict one-child policy, the government has rolled out several measures aimed at boosting birth rates. These include financial incentives for parents, removing taxes on matchmakers and childcare facilities, and even proposals targeting contraceptive use.
In a 2016 assessment following the policy’s repeal, the Brookings Institution described China’s one-child rule as “one of the most expensive lessons in flawed public policy.” Today, the consequences are evident, as birth rates have plunged to their lowest point since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949.
In 2025, China recorded just 5.63 births per 1,000 people — the weakest figure ever documented. Only 7.92 million babies were born during the year, marking a sharp decline of 1.62 million births, or 17 percent, compared with 2024.
This fall erased a short-lived rebound seen the previous year and reinforced the reality of a long-term downward trend, following seven straight years of declining births up to 2023. China, once the most populous nation on earth, was overtaken by neighboring India in 2023.
Many families point to rising living costs, intense educational competition, and the financial burden of raising children as key reasons for postponing or forgoing parenthood.
According to experts, these challenges run deep. One analyst noted that issues such as housing affordability, job security, career pressures, and high expectations around education are difficult to resolve quickly, making a significant recovery in birth numbers unlikely until these structural problems are addressed.
