From PBS NewsHour.

China’s birth rate plunged in 2024 to its lowest level since the 1949 Communist Revolution. That is despite government efforts to encourage new births. Official data out Monday shows that the number of new babies dropped by 17 percent to just under eight million. By another measure, the number of births fell to its lowest level since modern records began.

It’s the fourth straight year of declines and puts the country’s total population at just over 1.4 billion. And it comes even as China’s economy grew 5 percent last year, despite President Trump’s tariffs on Chinese goods.

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