China's population fell for a third consecutive year in 2024, with the number of deaths outpacing a slight increase in births.

The National Bureau of Statistics said the total number of people in China dropped by 1.39 million to 1.408 billion in 2024, compared to 1.409 billion in 2023.

The total number of births was 9.54 million versus 9.02 million in 2023, the bureau said. The birth rate rose to 6.77 births per 1,000 people in 2024 versus 6.39 per 1,000 people in 2023.

The number of deaths was 10.93 million in 2024, down from 11.1 million in 2023.

The figures follow trends worldwide, but especially in East Asia, where Japan, South Korea and other nations have seen their birth rates plummet.

China three years ago joined countries with falling populations, including Japan and most of Eastern Europe.

Mainland authorities unveiled a series of measures in 2024 to boost the country’s birth rate.

In December they urged colleges and universities to integrate marriage and "love education" into their curriculums to emphasise positive views on marriage, love, fertility and family.

In November, the State Council rallied local governments to direct resources towards fixing China's population crisis and spreading respect for childbearing and marriage "at the right age".

Data released on Friday showed the number of people aged 60 and over reached 310.31 million -- just a few percentage points short of a quarter of the country and an increase from the nearly 297 million recorded in 2023.

In September, officials said they would gradually raise the statutory retirement age from 60, which was among the lowest in the world.

Stuart Gietel-Basten, an expert in population policy from the University of Science and Technology, said high living costs and social changes contributed to low fertility rates in China.

“We've had the aftermath of Covid and the kind of slowdown of the economy. We have relatively high unemployment rates among young people and the challenges of getting a job, but also getting a house, getting a family started,” he told RTHK.

Rather than focusing only on boosting birth rates, Gietel-Basten said mainland officials should think of ways to improve quality of life and work-life balance.

"People would like to have children, but there's just these institutional barriers in place which are preventing people from having the number of children that they would like," he said.

"So we have to focus on understanding those barriers, breaking them down, not just to increase the fertility rate for its own sake, but to actually make people's lives happier.” (Additional reporting from agencies)
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Last updated: 2025-01-17 HKT 16:26