Kochi: Despite the Chinese government offering sops to parents to have more children, Beijing’s birth rates sank to a record low falling by 3.39 million to reach 1.4 billion by the end of 2025, BBC reported.
This marks a quicker decline than the previous year, government data showed on Monday.
China’s birth rate fell to 5.63 per 1,000 people – a record low since the Communist Party took power in 1949 – while its death rate rose to 8.04 per 1,000 people, the highest since 1968.
China had embarked on a mission to offer incentives for people getting married and have children.
China is struggling to deal with an aging population and sluggish economy.
Beijing has been trying hard to encourage more young people to marry and have children.
China scrapped its longstanding one-child policy in 2016 and replaced it with a two-child limit which was up to three in 2021.
China came out with plans offering parents 3,600 yuan (£375; $500) per each of their children under the age of three.
China has one of the lowest fertility rates in the world, at around one birth per woman, below the replacement rate of 2.1. Other economies in the region, such as South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan, have similarly low fertility rates.
China is also one of the most expensive countries in which to raise a child, according to a 2024 report by the YuWa Population Research Institute in Beijing.
But some Chinese people have told the BBC they are hindered by other factors – including the desire for a carefree life without constantly worrying about their children.
Birth rates fall in China
