China’s population drops

China’s population started shrinking in 2022 for the first time in six decades, worsening a demographic crisis for the world’s second-largest economy
  

Number of births and deaths in China (millions) 

1958-62: Some 20 million Chinese die in Great Famine under former leader Mao Zedong
  
29.8 Births
12.0 Deaths
17.4
6.0

1979: One-child policy takes effect

25.3
7.3

2016: Two-child policy begins

17.9
9.8

May 2021: President Xi Jinping (above) approves three-child policy to halt steep decline in birth rates

10.41
9.56

2022: Population declines by 850,000 to 1.41 billion

30 
25 
20 
15 
10
5 
0
1958 62 66 70 74 78 82 86 90 94 98 02 06 10 14 18 22


Apr 2023: India expected to overtake China as most populous nation

2030 	INDIA	1.52 billion
	CHINA 	1.42 billion
2040	INDIA 	1.61 billion
    	CHINA 	1.38 billion


Sources: Bloomberg, Britannica, Macrotrends, Reuters 
Picture: Getty Images 
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