China’s population drops for the first time in decades

BEIJING — China’s population declined in 2022, the National Bureau of Statistics said Tuesday.

The drop was the first since the early 1960s, according to Yi Fuxian, a critic of China’s one-child policy and author of the book “Big Country With an Empty Nest.”

Mainland China’s population, excluding foreigners, fell by 850,000 people in 2022 to 1.41 billion, the statistics bureau said. The country reported 9.56 million births and 10.41 million deaths for 2022.

The share of the population ages 16 to 59 ticked lower to 62%, down from 62.5% a year earlier.