China's population had fallen by 850,000 in the year of 2022, with the national population growth rate being minus 0.6 per thousand, the country's National Statistics Bureau announced on Tuesday.
Demographers whisked away negative mood on the declining numbers, saying that it is time to improve the quality of the population to make out for the decrease in births.
China recorded a 1.41 billion population by the end of 2022, a decrease of 850,000 compared with last year. The country witnessed a birth rate of 6.77 per thousand, whilst a death rate of 7.37 per thousand, which makes the birth rate of minus 0.6 per thousand, the bureau said on Tuesday.
Last month, the bureau announced that the population in the Chinese mainland recorded negative growth for the first time in 61 years.