China’s population falls for a 2nd straight year as births drop even after end of one-child policy
By KEN MORITSUGU
Associated Press
BEIJING (AP) — China’s population fell by 2 million people in 2023 in the second straight annual decrease as births dropped and deaths jumped. The government’s statistics bureau said Wednesday that the total population was 1.4 billion last year. The number of deaths rose by 690,000 to 11.1 million, more than double last year’s increase. Demographers were expecting a rise in deaths in the early part of last year because of the sudden lifting of China’s COVID-19 restrictions in late 2022. The number of births fell for the seventh year, reflecting a fall in the birth rate that is a long-running economic and societal challenge for China.