China's population declines for the first time in 60 years

The population of CHINA in 2022 decreased by 850 thousand people compared to last year, this decrease was the first in 60 years, China News reports, citing a report from the National Bureau of Statistics of the PRC.

By the end of 2022, the population stood at 1,411,750,000, down 850,000 from the end of 2021, the document says. During the past year, 9.56 million children were born in the country and 10.41 million people died.

The last time the PRC population declined was in the 1960s.

The statistics take into account the population of 31 Chinese provinces, with the exception of Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, which China considers its own. it also did not include foreigners living in the country.

Now, according to official figures, 722 million men and 689.7 million women live in the country. Thus, there are 104 men for every 100 women.

Able-bodied Chinese authorities consider the population aged 16 to 59 years. There are 875.56 million such citizens in the country (62.0%).

In addition, the statistics show an increase in the level of urbanization. As of 2022, 920.71 million people lived in cities, up 6.46 million from the end of 2021. 491 million people live in rural areas on a permanent basis.

At the end of December, the Chinese authorities relaxed the “zero tolerance” policy towards the CORONAVIRUS, which they had adhered to since 2020. As a result, the country experienced a surge in the incidence: in December, almost 250 million people in China were infected with COVID-19, BLOOMBERG reported. Official statistics did not confirm these data; until mid-January, Beijing reported only 5241 deaths during the entire period of the pandemic in China. On Jan. 14, National HEALTH Commission (NHC) spokeswoman Jiao Yahui said that 60,000 people had died in the country in the month since the policy was lifted.