India poised to emerge as most populous country as China's population declines for first time since 1961

Chinas demographic crisis deepened in 2022 as its population declined for the first time since 1961 due to a plunging birth rate the countrys statistics office said on Tuesday amid a forecast that India is poised to overtake the Communist giant as the worlds most populous countryChinas population in 2022 14118 billion fell by 850000 from 2021 the National Bureau of Statistics NBS saidThe NBS announcement comes at a time when Chinas economic growth fell to its secondlowest in five decades registering a paltry three per cent increase in 2022According to a recent report by the World Population Prospects 2022 by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Population Division India is projected to surpass China as the worlds most populous country in 2023Also read Chinas GDP falls to three per cent in 2022 second lowest in 50 yearsAccording to the report India is projected to have a population of 1668 billion in 2050 more than Chinas 1317 billion by the middle of this centuryChina and India are countries with a big population and we have ample resources in the working force This is a strong internal dynamic for economic development Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin saidThe two countries should take advantage of their population dividend to develop each others respective national development and make greater contributions to the international communityiquest he saidAccording to the NBS China registered about 956 million newborns last year down from 1062 million in 2021Chinas birth rate stood at 677 births per 1000 people in 2022 down from 752 in 2021 it saidThe death rate nationwide stood at 737 per 1000 people last year putting the natural growth rate at negative 06 per 1000 peopleThe last time China reported a population decline was in 1961Chinas concern is not simply a declining population which was accentuated by the decadesold one child policy scrapped in 2016 but also a rapidly ageing populationAs per the revised policy Chinese people can now have up to three children China conducts a nationwide population census every decade with the latest being done in 2020In a nonnationwide census year like 2022 China runs a population sampling survey on November 1 each year meaning the number of deaths for December is not available an official from the NBS saidChinas total population size peaked in 2022 much earlier than expected which means the countrys population will maintain a negative growth from 2023 or enter an era of negative growth Cai Fang former deputy director of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said previouslyYuan Xin a professor from the Institute of Population and Development at Nankai Universitys School of Economics said in 2022 the negative population growth was the inevitable result of the countrys longterm low fertility rate and Chinas population entering an era of zero growthThe population size during the early stage of contraction will still be huge Chinas population began to fall in 2022 but the total population will still exceed 14 billion in 2035 and will still be around 13 billion in 2050 Yuan told staterun Global TimesChina implemented a thirdchild policy in May 2021 and rolled out a series of stimulus measures to boost population growthA number of cities provinces and regions across the country have rolled out incentive policies such as issuing subsidies to families with a second or third childFrom the perspective of gender the male population was 72206 million the female population was 68969 million and the sex ratio of the total population is 10469As per the official data in terms of age structure the workingage population between 16 and 59 stood at 87556 million accounting for 62 per cent of the national population and the population aged 60 or above reached 28004 million accounting for 198 per cent of the total populationAround 20978 million were aged 65 or above accounting for 149 per cent of the total population the NBS saidChina previously an agrarian country has now been rapidly urbanised with 92071 million living in urban areas an increase of 646 million by the end of 2021 totalling to 6522 per centThe permanent residents in rural areas declined to 49104 million a decline of 731 millionThe share of urban population in the total population was 6522 per cent 050 percentage point higher than that at the end of the previous year according to the NBS dataThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever