According to latest figures, the Chinese population decreased by 1.39 million to around 1.408 billion people in 2024. After decades of rapid growth, China arrived at the turning point of its demographic development in 2022, which was earlier than expected. The annual population decrease is estimated to remain at moderate levels until around 2030 but to accelerate thereafter. Population development in China China had for a long time been the country with the largest population worldwide, but according to UN estimates, it has been overtaken by India in 2023. As the population in India is still growing, the country is very likely to remain being home of the largest population on earth in the near future. Due to several mechanisms put into place by the Chinese government as well as changing circumstances in the working and social environment of the Chinese people, population growth has subsided over the past decades, displaying an annual population growth rate of -0.1 percent in 2024. Nevertheless, compared to the world population in total, China held a share of about 17 percent of the overall global population in 2024. China's aging population In terms of demographic developments, the birth control efforts of the Chinese government had considerable effects on the demographic pyramid in China. Upon closer examination of the age distribution, a clear trend of an aging population becomes visible. In order to curb the negative effects of an aging population, the Chinese government abolished the one-child policy in 2015, which had been in effect since 1979, and introduced a three-child policy in May 2021. However, many Chinese parents nowadays are reluctant to have a second or third child, as is the case in most of the developed countries in the world. The number of births in China varied in the years following the abolishment of the one-child policy, but did not increase considerably. Among the reasons most prominent for parents not having more children are the rising living costs and costs for child care, growing work pressure, a growing trend towards self-realization and individualism, and changing social behaviors.

Key information about China population

• The China population reached 1,408.3 million people in Dec 2024, compared with the previously reported figure of 1,409.7 million people in Dec 2023
• The data reached an all-time high of 1,412.6 million people in Dec 2021 and a record low of 541.7 million people in Dec 1949

• In the latest reports, China Unemployment Rate increased to 5.1 % in Sep 2024
• Monthly earnings of the China population was 1,392.5 USD in Dec 2023
• China Labour Force Participation Rate dropped to 66.4 % in Dec 2023

As of 2023, the bulk of the Chinese population was aged between 25 and 59 years, amounting to around half of the population. A breakdown of the population by broad age groups reveals that around 61.3 percent of the total population was in working age between 16 and 59 years in 2023. Age cohorts below 25 years were considerably smaller, although there was a slight growth trend in recent years. Population development in China Population development in China over the past decades has been strongly influenced by political and economic factors. After a time of high fertility rates during the Maoist regime, China introduced birth-control measures in the 1970s, including the so-called one-child policy. The fertility rate dropped accordingly from around six children per woman in the 1960s to below two at the end of the 20th century. At the same time, life expectancy increased consistently. In the face of a rapidly aging society, the government gradually lifted the one-child policy after 2012, finally arriving at a three-child policy in 2021. However, like in most other developed countries nowadays, people in China are reluctant to have more than one or two children due to high costs of living and education, as well as changed social norms and private values. China’s top-heavy age pyramid The above-mentioned developments are clearly reflected in the Chinese age pyramid. The age cohorts between 30 and 39 years are the last two larger age cohorts. The cohorts between 15 and 24, which now enter childbearing age, are decisively smaller, which will have a negative effect on the number of births in the coming decade. When looking at a gender distribution of the population pyramid, a considerable gender gap among the younger age cohorts becomes visible, leaving even less room for growth in birth figures.

According to the age distribution of China's population in 2024, approximately 68.6 percent of the population were in their working age between 15 and 64 years of age. Retirees aged 65 years and above made up about 15.6 percent of the total population. Age distribution in China As can be seen from this statistic, the age pyramid in China has been gradually shifting towards older demographics during the past decade. Mainly due to low birth rates in China, the age group of 0 to 14 year-olds has remained at around 16 to 17 percent since 2010, whereas the age groups 65 years and over have seen growth of nearly seven percentage points. Thus, the median age of the Chinese population has been constantly rising since 1970 and is forecast to reach 52 years by 2050. Accompanied by a slightly growing mortality rate of more than 7 per thousand, China is showing strong signs of an aging population. China's aging society The impact of this severe change in demographics is the subject of an ongoing scientific discussion. Rising standards of living in China contain the demand for better health care and pension insurance for retirees, which will be hard to meet with the social insurance system in China still being in its infancy. Per capita expenditure on medical care and services of urban households has grown more than ninefold since 2000 with a clear and distinctive upward trend for the near future. As for social security spending, public pension expenditure is forecast to take up approximately nine percent of China's GDP by 2050.

China Population: Age 20 to 24 data was reported at 73.696 Person th in 2023. This records an increase from the previous number of 73.629 Person th for 2022. China Population: Age 20 to 24 data is updated yearly, averaging 90.654 Person th from Dec 1982 (Median) to 2023, with 36 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 127,412.518 Person th in 2010 and a record low of 61.519 Person th in 2019. China Population: Age 20 to 24 data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Socio-Demographic – Table CN.GA: Population: Sample Survey: By Age and Sex.

China Population: Male: Age 0 to 4 data was reported at 30.045 Person th in 2023. This records a decrease from the previous number of 32.589 Person th for 2022. China Population: Male: Age 0 to 4 data is updated yearly, averaging 36.586 Person th from Dec 1982 (Median) to 2023, with 36 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 61,049.130 Person th in 1990 and a record low of 30.045 Person th in 2023. China Population: Male: Age 0 to 4 data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Socio-Demographic – Table CN.GA: Population: Sample Survey: By Age and Sex.

China Population: Age 15 to 64 data was reported at 962.280 Person mn in 2023. This records a decrease from the previous number of 962.890 Person mn for 2022. China Population: Age 15 to 64 data is updated yearly, averaging 931.905 Person mn from Dec 1953 (Median) to 2023, with 38 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 1,010.410 Person mn in 2013 and a record low of 348.719 Person mn in 1953. China Population: Age 15 to 64 data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Socio-Demographic – Table CN.GA: Population.

In 2024, there were around 719 million male inhabitants and 689 million female inhabitants living in China, amounting to around 1.41 billion people in total. China's total population decreased for the first time in decades in 2022, and population decline is expected to accelerate in the upcoming years. Birth control in China From the beginning of the 1970s on, having many children was no longer encouraged in mainland China. The one-child policy was then introduced in 1979 to control the total size of the Chinese population. According to the one-child policy, a married couple was only allowed to have one child. With the time, modifications were added to the policy, for example parents living in rural areas were allowed to have a second child if the first was a daughter, and most ethnic minorities were excepted from the policy. Population ageing The birth control led to a decreasing birth rate in China and a more skewed gender ratio of new births due to boy preference. Since the negative economic and social effects of an aging population were more and more felt in China, the one-child policy was considered an obstacle for the country’s further economic development. Since 2014, the one-child policy has been gradually relaxed and fully eliminated at the end of 2015. However, many young Chinese people are not willing to have more children due to high costs of raising a child, especially in urban areas.

China Population: Age 85 to 89 data was reported at 13.443 Person th in 2023. This records an increase from the previous number of 12.542 Person th for 2022. China Population: Age 85 to 89 data is updated yearly, averaging 4.792 Person th from Dec 1982 (Median) to 2023, with 36 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 10,826.530 Person th in 2020 and a record low of 1.453 Person th in 1994. China Population: Age 85 to 89 data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Socio-Demographic – Table CN.GA: Population: Sample Survey: By Age and Sex.

In 2023, approximately 127.1 million people lived in Guangdong province in China. That same year, only about 3.65 million people lived in the sparsely populated highlands of Tibet. Regional differences in China China is the world’s most populous country, with an exceptional economic growth momentum. The country can be roughly divided into three regions: Western, Eastern, and Central China. Western China covers the most remote regions from the sea. It also has the highest proportion of minority population and the lowest levels of economic output. Eastern China, on the other hand, enjoys a high level of economic development and international corporations. Central China lags behind in comparison to the booming coastal regions. In order to accelerate the economic development of Western and Central Chinese regions, the PRC government has ramped up several incentive plans such as ‘Rise of Central China’ and ‘China Western Development’. Economic power of different provinces When observed individually, some provinces could stand an international comparison. Jiangxi province, for example, a medium-sized Chinese province, had a population size comparable to Argentina or Spain in 2023. That year, the GDP of Zhejiang, an eastern coastal province, even exceeded the economic output of the Netherlands. In terms of per capita annual income, the municipality of Shanghai reached a level close to that of the Czech Republik. Nevertheless, as shown by the Gini Index, China’s economic spur leaves millions of people in dust. Among the various kinds of economic inequality in China, regional or the so-called coast-inland disparity is one of the most significant. Posing as evidence for the rather large income gap in China, the poorest province Heilongjiang had a per capita income similar to that of Sri Lanka that year.

China Population: Male: Age 40 to 44 data was reported at 51.953 Person th in 2023. This records an increase from the previous number of 50.422 Person th for 2022. China Population: Male: Age 40 to 44 data is updated yearly, averaging 51.255 Person th from Dec 1982 (Median) to 2023, with 36 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 63,608.678 Person th in 2010 and a record low of 26.461 Person th in 1994. China Population: Male: Age 40 to 44 data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Socio-Demographic – Table CN.GA: Population: Sample Survey: By Age and Sex.

In 2024, about 943.5 million people lived in urban regions in China and 464.8 million in rural. That year, the country had a total population of approximately 1.41 billion people. As of 2024, China was the second most populous country in the world. Urbanization in China Urbanization refers to the process by which people move from rural to urban areas and how a society adapts to the population shift. It is usually seen as a driving force in economic growth, accompanied by industrialization, modernization and the spread of education. Urbanization levels tend to be higher in industrial countries, whereas the degree of urbanization in developing countries remains relatively low. According to World Bank, a mere 19.4 percent of the Chinese population had been living in urban areas in 1980. Since then, China’s urban population has skyrocketed. By 2024, about 67 percent of the Chinese population lived in urban areas. Regional urbanization rates In the last decades, urbanization has progressed greatly in every region of China. Even in most of the more remote Chinese provinces, the urbanization rate surpassed 50 percent in recent years. However, the most urbanized areas are still to be found in the coastal eastern and southern regions of China. The population of Shanghai, the largest city in China and the world’s seventh largest city ranged at around 24 million people in 2023. China’s urban areas are characterized by a developing middle class. Per capita disposable income of Chinese urban households has more than doubled between 2010 and 2020. The emerging middle class is expected to become a significant driver for the continuing growth of the Chinese economy.

In 2024, around **** million babies were born in China. The number of births has increased slightly from **** million in the previous year, but is much lower than the ***** million births recorded in 2016. Demographic development in China In 2022, the Chinese population decreased for the first time in decades, and population decline is expected to accelerate in the upcoming years. To curb the negative effects of an aging population, the Chinese government decided in 2013 to gradually relax the so called one-child-policy, which had been in effect since 1979. From 2016 onwards, parents in China were allowed to have two children in general. However, as the recent figures of births per year reveal, this policy change had only short-term effects on the general birth rate: the number of births slightly increased from 2014 onwards, but then started to fell again in 2018. In 2024, China was the second most populous country in the world, overtaken by India that year. China’s aging population The Chinese society is aging rapidly and facing a serious demographic shift towards older age groups. The median age of China’s population has increased massively from about ** years in 1970 to **** years in 2020 and is projected to rise continuously until 2080. In 2020, approximately **** percent of the Chinese were 60 years and older, a figure that is forecast to rise as high as ** percent by 2060. This shift in demographic development will increase social and elderly support expenditure of the society as a whole. One measure for this social imbalance is the old-age dependency ratio, measuring the relationship between economic dependent older age groups and the working-age population. The old-age dependency ratio in China is expected to soar to ** percent in 2060, implying that by then three working-age persons will have to support two elderly persons.

China Population: Education Level: Primary data was reported at 365.918 Person th in 2021. This records a decrease from the previous number of 349,658.733 Person th for 2020. China Population: Education Level: Primary data is updated yearly, averaging 388.245 Person th from Dec 1982 (Median) to 2021, with 28 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 441,613.351 Person th in 2000 and a record low of 257.030 Person th in 2019. China Population: Education Level: Primary data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Socio-Demographic – Table CN.GA: Population: Sample Survey: Level of Education.

In 2024, around 1.073 billion people in total were covered by the two systems of basic public pension insurance in China. Around 534.52 million of them were covered by the public pension insurance for urban employees, the rest were covered by the public insurance for urban-rural residents.

China Population: Average Household Size data was reported at 2.800 Person in 2023. This records an increase from the previous number of 2.760 Person for 2022. China Population: Average Household Size data is updated yearly, averaging 3.150 Person from Dec 1982 (Median) to 2023, with 31 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 4.430 Person in 1982 and a record low of 2.620 Person in 2020. China Population: Average Household Size data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Socio-Demographic – Table CN.GA: Population: No of Person per Household.

Population: City: Age 15 to 64: Anhui data was reported at 13.705 Person th in 2023. This records an increase from the previous number of 13.631 Person th for 2022. Population: City: Age 15 to 64: Anhui data is updated yearly, averaging 8.738 Person th from Dec 1997 (Median) to 2023, with 27 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 11,787.862 Person th in 2020 and a record low of 3.193 Person th in 2002. Population: City: Age 15 to 64: Anhui data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Socio-Demographic – Table CN.GA: Population: Sample Survey: By Age and Region: City.

China Population: City: Age 25 to 29 data was reported at 40.514 Person th in 2023. This records a decrease from the previous number of 40.888 Person th for 2022. China Population: City: Age 25 to 29 data is updated yearly, averaging 34.655 Person th from Dec 1982 (Median) to 2023, with 35 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 44,415.879 Person th in 2020 and a record low of 14.497 Person th in 1994. China Population: City: Age 25 to 29 data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Socio-Demographic – Table CN.GA: Population: Sample Survey: By Age and Sex: City.

China Population: Age 45 to 49 data was reported at 102.401 Person th in 2023. This records a decrease from the previous number of 103.955 Person th for 2022. China Population: Age 45 to 49 data is updated yearly, averaging 96.875 Person th from Dec 1982 (Median) to 2023, with 36 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 114,224.887 Person th in 2020 and a record low of 37.083 Person th in 1994. China Population: Age 45 to 49 data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Socio-Demographic – Table CN.GA: Population: Sample Survey: By Age and Sex.

China Population: Age 0 to 14 data was reported at 222.400 Person mn in 2024. This records a decrease from the previous number of 230.630 Person mn for 2023. China Population: Age 0 to 14 data is updated yearly, averaging 259.610 Person mn from Dec 1953 (Median) to 2024, with 39 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 341.456 Person mn in 1982 and a record low of 213.312 Person mn in 1953. China Population: Age 0 to 14 data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Socio-Demographic – Table CN.GA: Population.