China: Population expected to begin shrinking by 2025

China's population has slowed significantly, and is expected to begin shrinking ahead of 2025, the state-backed Global Times reported, citing a senior health official.

Birth data released late on Sunday showed that in 2021, the number of new births in several provinces was the lowest in decades.

The number of births in the central Hunan province fell below 500,000 for the first time in nearly 60 years, the Global Times said. Only China's southern Guangdong province has had more than 1 million new births, it added.

China is battling to reverse a rapid shrinkage in natural population growth, as many young people opt not to have children, due to factors such as high costs and work pressure.

China's population is expected to begin shrinking in 2021-2025, the Global Times said, citing Yang Wenzhuang, the Head of Population and Family Affairs at the National Health Commission.

A change in China’s laws last year to allow women to have three children has not helped, with many women saying that the change came too late, for they still faced insufficient job security and gender inequality.

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