China’s birth rate plummets 15%

BEIJING/SHANGHAI: The number of newborns in China plummeted 15% in 2020 from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Public Security, with the novel coronavirus disrupting the economy and weighing on decisions to have a family.

China had 10.035 million births last year, the ministry said, compared with 11.79 million in 2019. Of those born last year, 52.7% were boys and 47.3% girls.

In recent years, many couples have been reluctant to have children due to the rising cost of healthcare, education and housing. The abandoning of the decadeslong onechild policy in 2016 has not provided much impetus to the country’s birth rate.

The economic uncertainties brought on by Covid19 last year further weighed on decisions to have children, extending a longterm birth decline in the world’s most populous but fastageing nation.

About a fifth of Chinese citizens are aged 60 and above, or around 250 million people. — Reuters