China gets ‘year of the dragon’ birth boost but population falls for third year

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China recorded its third consecutive year of population decline in 2024, despite the country’s first increase in births in almost a decade in a year traditionally considered auspicious.

Figures released on Friday by the National Statistics Office showed that the country recorded 9.54 million births in 2024, after 10.93 million deaths, but an increase of 9 million births last year , since Chinese families have marked the year of the dragon, which is considered an auspicious sign of the zodiac.

The increase was the first increase in births since 2016 and left the country with a total population of 1.408 billion. India will overtake China in 2023 as the world’s most populous country.

The declining population of China, which fell in 2022 for the first time in six decadesit stems from a 1980s policy – ended in 2016 – that limited most couples to having only one child, below the average of 2.1 needed for the population to be stable.

Analysts say birth rates have also been depressed by economic pressures as the country grapples with slowing growth.

Policymakers are looking to alternatives such as automation and robotics to maintain high levels of productivity, and are trying to encourage couples to have more children through a mix of subsidies, tax breaks and cajoling.