China’s birth rate plunges to lowest in four decades

The country`s birth rates have been steadily falling for years now, mostly because young people can`t afford to have kids, and more financially independent women have decided to embrace a single, childless lifestyle.

Beijing: China`s birth rate fell to its lowest point in more than four decades last year, local media reported citing official data published by the country`s National Bureau of Statistics.

According to Caixin, the birth rate in China stood at 8.52 per 1,000 people in 2020, which is a down from 10.41 in 2019. The figures were cited by China Statistical Yearbook 2021 which added that the first time the figure has dropped below 10 since 1978.

The seventh national census shows that China registered 12 million newborn babies in 2020, with a lower-than-expected fertility rate of 1.3 for women of childbearing age.