BEIJING: China’s birth rate fell last year to its lowest level on record, official data showed Monday, as its population shrank for a fourth year running despite authorities’ efforts to curb the decline. There were just 7.92 million births recorded last year, Chinese officials said Monday, a rate of 5.63 births per thousand people. It marks the lowest birth rate since records by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) began in 1949 — the year Communist leader Mao Zedong declared the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

The number of newborns fell sharply in 2025 after a temporary rebound the prior year, underscoring the challenge Beijing faces in reversing a four-year trend of contraction

China's birthrate fell to a record low last year, underscoring a deepening demographic crisis as Beijing struggled to reverse a shrinking and aging population.