China birth rate hits record low in 2021

The National Bureau of Statistics data showed that Mainland China's birth rate dropped to a record low of 7.52 per 1,000 people in 2021, a downward trend that led Beijing last year to allow couples to have up to three children.

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

The birth rate was the lowest since 1949 when the statistics bureau began collating the data.

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.

The demographic challenge is well known but the speed of population aging is faster than expected, said Zhiwei Zhang, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management.

China's total population may have reached its peak in 2021, this suggests. It indicates that China's potential growth is likely to slow down faster than expected, Zhang said.

The data shows that there were 10.62 million births in 2021, compared to 12 million in 2020.

In 2020, the birth rate was 8.52 births per 1,000 people.