China's population fell for the fourth straight year in 2025 as its birth rates sunk to a record low, despite the government rolling out a spate of incentives to boost them.
The country's population fell 3.39 million to reach 1.4 billion by the end of 2025, marking a quicker decline than the previous year, government data showed on Monday.
Its 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.
Faced with an ageing population and sluggish economy, Beijing has been trying hard to encourage more young people to marry and have children.
In 2016, it scrapped its longstanding one-child policy and replaced it with a two-child limit. When that did not lead to a sustained upsurge in births, authorities announced that they would allow up to three children per couple in 2021.
