Explanation

China’s birth rate has fallen to its lowest since the formation of the People’s Republic of China 70 years ago – despite the easing of the much criticised one-child policy. The birth rate was 10.48 per 1,000 in 2019 – the lowest since 1949, the National Bureau of Statistics said. The number of babies born in 2019 dropped by 580,000 to 14.65 million. The country’s birth rate has been falling for years – posing a challenge for the world’s second-biggest economy.