A Chinese government official has said that the country's population growth has slowed and is likely to start shrinking before 2025.
The British news agency Reuters, citing the Chinese government-backed newspaper Global Times and a senior health official, said that the birth rate has decreased in various provinces.
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According to the report, the statistics released on Sunday show that the rate of births in 2021 is lower than in the past several decades.
Hunan Province's annual birth rate fell below 500,000 for the first time in 60 years.
According to the Global Times report, Guangdong province is the only province in China where the new birth rate exceeded one million.
China is currently struggling with population decline, and many young Chinese men and women are avoiding childbearing due to inflation and pressure on job opportunities, among other factors.
The report quoted Yang Weizong, head of the National Health Commission's population department, as saying that given the birth rate in 2021, the population is expected to shrink significantly by 2025.
