If China cannot reverse today’s population decline, it will be the end of Chinese history, says Singapore’s former foreign minister George Yeo in a public lecture on Jan 13.
China’s population shrank last year, marking the first reversal for the world’s most populous nation in six decades. According to figures released on Jan 17, China’s population stood at 1.41175 billion in 2022, falling by 850,000 from 2021. At 6.77 births per 1,000 people, 2022’s birth rate was down from 7.52 in 2021.
This is the first time deaths had outnumbered births in China since 1961, when the Great Leap Forward, the failed economic experiment by former Chinese leader Mao Zedong, led to widespread famine and death.
