Beijing - China's birth rate plunged to a record low in 2021, data collected by National Statistics Bureau revealed on Monday. The downward trend in birth rate had led Beijing to begin allowing couples to have up to three children last year.

The 2021 rate of 7.52 births per 1,000 people was the lowest since 1949, when the National Statistics Bureau began collating the data, adding further pressure on officials to encourage more births.

The natural growth rate of China's population, which excludes migration, was only 0.034% for 2021, the lowest since 1960, according to the data.

There were 10.62 million births in 2021, the data showed, compared with 12 million in 2020. Chinese demographers have warned that if the downward trend continues, China's population could stark shrinking soon.

"The demographic challenge is well known but the speed of population aging is clearly faster than expected," said Zhiwei Zhang, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset management. "This suggests China's total population may have reached its peak in 2021. It also indicates China's potential growth is likely slowing faster than expected.”

China scrapped its decades-old one-child policy in 2016, replacing it with a two-child limit to try to avoid the economic risks from a rapidly aging population. The high cost of urban living has however deterred couples from having more children.

In addition to allowing couples to have three children, China has been adopting policies aimed at reducing the financial burden of raising children, including banning for-profit after-school tuition, a massive industry, last year.

According to a Chinese statistics official, in 2021, 43% of the children born were the second child in a family. The three-child policy is expected to gradually add births, and that "China's total population will remain above 1.4 billion for a period of time to come."

China's working-age population is already declining, which will add pressure on the country's ability to pay and care for an increasingly elderly country.

Huang Wenzheng, a demography expert with the Beijing-based Center for China and Globalization, said birth numbers are likely to fluctuate in the 10 million range before declining further in the absence of more policy changes.

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