BEIJING: China’s population is estimated to have decreased by 3.39 million to 1.404 billion by the end of 2025, Sputnik/RIA Novosti reported based on data released on Monday by the country’s National Bureau of Statistics.
According to the bureau, by the end of 2025, China’s population — excluding residents of Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan, as well as foreign nationals — reached 1.404 billion, a decrease of 3.39 million compared to the end-2024 count. The birth rate for last year was 5.63 per thousand, and the death rate was 8.04 per thousand, according to the bureau. In terms of gender, the male population of the People’s Republic of China in 2025 was 716.85 million, while the female population was 688.04 million.
In terms of age, the population aged 16-59 was 851.36 million, accounting for 60.6 per cent of the country’s total population. The population aged 60 and over was 323.38 million, accounting for 23 per cent of the country’s total population. Of these, the population aged 65 and over was 223.65 million, accounting for 15.9 per cent of China’s total population, according to the bureau.
The urban population in 2025 was expected to reach 953.8 million, an increase of 10.3 million compared to 2024 and a share of 67.8 per cent. The rural population decreased by 13.69 million, according to the bureau.
Modern China faces serious demographic challenges, including gender imbalance and an aging population. One of the reasons for this was the “one-child” policy implemented in China in the late 1970s, under which urban families were allowed to have only one child, while rural families were allowed to have two if the first child was a girl. The number of people seeking marriage has also been steadily declining: in 2022 alone, a record low of approximately 6.8 million marriages were registered in China, the lowest figure in 37 years.
In 2013, Chinese authorities began easing restrictions. Couples where at least one spouse was an only child were allowed to have a second child, and in 2016, this was extended to all couples. In the summer of 2021, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China approved amendments to the Population and Family Planning Law, which legally allowed families to have a third child and eliminated all previously imposed fines and payments. – BERNAMA-SPUTNIK
