China’s Population Hits Rock Bottom: The One-Child Policy May Have Destroyed the Country’s Future

China’s birth rate hit rock bottom, one decade after it announced the end of its one-child policy, multiple outlets reported Monday.

Total births in China plummeted to 5.63 per 1,000 people in 2025, marking a record low since the Chinese Communist Party officially took power in 1949. At the same time, the country’s death rate increased to 8.04 per 1,000 people, the highest level since 1968, according to multiple reports citing government data.

Meanwhile, the country’s population fell for the fourth straight year, dropping 3.39 million to hit 1.4 billion by the end of 2025, BBC News reported.

“The pace of the decline is striking, particularly in the absence of major shocks,” Yue Su, principal economist at Economist Intelligence Unit, told CNBC on Monday.

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