On February 8, 2021, China’s Ministry of Public Security released the 2020 annual report based on household registration information. The report stated that, as of December 31, 2020, there were 10.035 million newborns in 2020 registered with the public security departments. The number fell by 14.89 percent year-on-year, compared to the 2019 annual report. There were a total of 11.79 million newborns in 2019 registered with the public security departments.
The decline is also seen in the numbers released by the National Bureau of Statistics. The number of newborns in 2016 was 17.86 million, 17.23 million in 2017, and 15.23 million in 2018. On January 17, 2020, the National Bureau of Statistics announced that the total number of newborns in 2019 was 14.65 million.
In his article entitled, “The Implementation of the National Strategy for Active Response to the Population’s Aging,” China’s Minister of Civil Affairs, Li Jiheng expressed his concern about the substantial decline in the population base.
In his article, Li Jiheng said that under the influence of a number of factors, Chinese people are less willing to have children. The total fertility rate has fallen below the warning line and the population’s development has entered a critical transition period.
Source: Guancha, February 8, 2021
https://www.guancha.cn/politics/2021_02_08_580809.shtml