(Yicai Global) Dec. 13 -- China’s population expanded by 2.04 million last year, the smallest increase since 1962, according to the China Statistical Yearbook 2021 released by the National Bureau of Statistics. The pandemic and a decline in the number of women of childbearing age are seen as two of the main reasons.

The net increase in China’s population was 9.06 million in 2016, following implementation of the nation’s two-child policy. But in subsequent years, growth has continued to decline. It was 7.79 million in 2017; 5.3 million in 2018; and 4.67 million in 2019. 

The rate may slow further this year. Births, newborn screening and household birth registration data published in regions including Guiyang city and Henan province in the first three quarters of 2021 all dropped more than 10 percent from a year ago, Yicai Global has learned.

There is a lack of upward momentum in the total population, and the trend of falling births is accelerating, Dong Yuzheng, a professor and director of the Guangdong Academy of Population Development, told Yicai Global. 

If the fertility rate is too low and there is a decline in the number of young people, the problem of China’s aging population will get worse, weakening the vitality of economic and social development, Wang Pei’an, executive vice president of the China Family Planning Association, said in a recent interview.

It is necessary to effectively roll out the three-child policy along with supporting measures, Wang added, as well as to build a fertility support policy system to increase births and improve the age structure of the population.

The three-child policy, which allows couples to have as many as three children, became law in August.

Editor: Tom Litting