Blog: After Years of Sharp Decline, Will China’s Birth Rate Rebound?

The number of annual births in China has been in an unbroken slide since 2016, halving in the six years to 2022, and the fall looks set to continue this year. But just how sharp will the decline be and is there hope for a rebound?

Annual births fell from 18.83 million in 2016 to 17.65 million, 15.23 million, 14.65 million, 12.02 million in 2020, 10.62 million, and 9.56 million last year. Therefore, the rate of decline each year from 2017 to 2022 was 6.27%, 13.71%, 3.81%, 17.95%, 11.65%, and 9.98%, respectively.