Latest news China's birth rate hits record low
China's birth rate fell to a record low last year. According to the statistics office in Beijing, only 5.63 children were born per 1,000 inhabitants. The birth rate thus reached its lowest level since the founding of the People's Republic in 1949. As a further sign of demographic change, China's population fell further to just under 1.405 billion by the end of 2025, a decline of around 3.4 million people compared to the previous year.
19.01.2026, 07:14
SDA
China's society is ageing. People are having fewer and fewer children, even though the one-child policy, which Beijing used to control population growth for decades, ended more than ten years ago. One of the reasons for this is the high cost of education in large cities. Since last year, the government has been trying to remedy the situation with child benefits.
"Baby boomers" are retiring
At the same time, the country is experiencing a retirement boom. In the coming years, the "baby boomers" - the people born in the 1960s - will retire. By 2050, it is estimated that 520 million people in China will be aged 60 or over.
The rising number of senior citizens and declining workforce are putting a strain on the pension fund of the world's second-largest economy. China's government therefore began to gradually raise the retirement age last year. Over the next 15 years, the age limit for men will rise from 60 to 63. For women, for whom there were previously two retirement ages depending on the occupational group, this threshold will rise either from 50 to 55 or from 55 to 58.
