China’s population shrinks for fourth consecutive year, intensifying fears about future

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China’s population rate declined again last year, as the country grapples with how to revive birth rates 10 years after ending its decadeslong one-child policy.

China’s birth rate in 2025 stood at 5.63 per 1,000 people, according to government data released Monday, marking the lowest on record since births began to be formally documented in 1949, when the Chinese Communist Party took power under Mao Zedong. The country’s fertility rate is now one of the lowest in the world, estimated to stand at around 1, far below the 2.1 replacement rate needed to maintain population size.

But the relaxed policies thus far have largely failed to undo decades of cultural expectations. The country’s population has now declined for four consecutive years. The number of babies born was 7.92 million in 2025, down 17% from the previous year. Twenty-three percent of China’s population is now over 60. By 2100, China is projected to have lost more than half of its current population, according to data from the United Nations.

In a country where, culturally speaking, it is the norm for the younger generation to take care of the older, stats like these are quite grim.