PRC China has announced its first overall population decline in recent years amid an aging society and plunging birthrate. The National Bureau of Statistics reported the country had 850,000 fewer people at the end of 2022 than over the previous year. It counts only the population of mainland China while excluding Hong Kong and Macao as well as foreign residents.

The bureau said at a briefing that out of a total of 1.411.75 billion, there are 9.56 million births against 10.41 million deaths, Men also continued to outnumber women by 722.06 million to 689.69 million, the bureau said, a result of the strict one-child policy that only officially ended in 2016 and a traditional preference for male offspring to carry on the family name.

Since abandoning the policy, China has sought to encourage families to have second or even third children, with little success. The expense of raising children in China's cities is often cited as a cause, reflecting attitudes in much of east Asia where birth rates have fallen precipitously.

China has long been the world's most populous nation but is expected to soon be overtaken by India if it has not already. Estimates put India's population at more than 1.4 billion and continue to grow to become the most populous nation in the world.. 

PRC China has announced its first overall population decline in recent years amid an aging society and plunging birthrate. The National Bureau of Statistics reported the country had 850,000 fewer people at the end of 2022 than over the previous year. It counts only the population of mainland China while excluding Hong Kong and Macao as well as foreign residents.

The bureau said at a briefing that out of a total of 1.411.75 billion, there are 9.56 million births against 10.41 million deaths, Men also continued to outnumber women by 722.06 million to 689.69 million, the bureau said, a result of the strict one-child policy that only officially ended in 2016 and a traditional preference for male offspring to carry on the family name.

Since abandoning the policy, China has sought to encourage families to have second or even third children, with little success. The expense of raising children in China's cities is often cited as a cause, reflecting attitudes in much of east Asia where birth rates have fallen precipitously.

China has long been the world's most populous nation but is expected to soon be overtaken by India if it has not already. Estimates put India's population at more than 1.4 billion and continue to grow to become the most populous nation in the world..