CCP’s Pro-Birth Policies Fail to Take Effect; Population Declines for Four Consecutive Years

For decades, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) government implemented the so-called “one-child policy,” but in 2016 and 2021 it respectively allowed a second and a third child. In fact, before China officially announced permission for a second child, the one-child policy had already been gradually loosened. The image shows a family-planning propaganda slogan in a rural area of Hebei recognizing that families could have two daughters. (July 2007)

[People News] Data released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics on Monday (January 19) show that despite government measures aimed at reversing the declining birthrate, the total population has fallen for four consecutive years. The number of births last year hit the lowest level since the Chinese Communist Party took power in 1949.

According to a report by Voice of America, official CCP data show that by the end of 2025, China’s total population was 1.40489 billion, a decrease of 3.39 million compared with the end of 2024. The number of births in 2025 fell by 1.62 million to 7.92 million, dropping below 8 million for the first time. The birthrate was only 5.63 per thousand.

Since 2022, China’s population has continued to decline, and in 2023 the birthrate fell to a historic low of just 6.39 per thousand.

At the same time, population aging in China is accelerating. Statistical data show that more than 323.38 million people—23% of the total population—are aged 60 and above, of whom nearly 16% of the population is aged 65 and above.

For decades, the CCP government enforced the so-called “one-child policy,” prohibiting families from having more than one child. Over the past decade, however, it has been loosened, with the government allowing a second child in 2016 and a third child in 2021. In recent years, the government has introduced a series of policies to encourage childbirth, including cash subsidies, taxation on condoms, and tax incentives for matchmaking agencies and daycare centers, but these measures appear unable to reverse the trend toward fewer births.

Starting January 1 this year, China began implementing a childcare subsidy under which parents of children under the age of three can receive 3,600 yuan per year. Last autumn, the government abolished fees at public childcare centers.

In addition, from January 1 this year, consumers purchasing contraceptive products (including condoms) must pay a 13% value-added tax; previously, such products enjoyed tax-exempt treatment.

Although the CCP government claimed when releasing the population figures that “in 2025 our country’s population size remains huge and labor resources are abundant,” many Western media outlets, including The New York Times and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), pointed out that population contraction will bring unavoidable economic and social impacts to the world’s second-largest economy. Fewer babies mean a smaller future labor force. Coupled with the rapid growth of the retired population and worsening economic conditions, this makes it even more difficult for the CCP government to respond to this challenge.

The United Nations’ World Population Prospects 2024 report believes that China’s population will continue to decline, and estimates that by 2100, China’s population will be reduced by more than half.

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