Total current population for China in 2025 is 1,424,381,924, a 0.06% decline from 2024.

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<li>Total population for China in 2024 was <strong>1,425,178,782</strong>, a <strong>1.03% increase</strong> from 2023.</li>
<li>Total population for China in 2023 was <strong>1,410,710,000</strong>, a <strong>0.1% decline</strong> from 2022.</li>
<li>Total population for China in 2022 was <strong>1,412,175,000</strong>, a <strong>0.01% decline</strong> from 2021.</li>
</ul>Total population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship. The values shown are midyear estimates.

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.

Graph and download economic data for Population, Total for China (POPTOTCNA647NWDB) from 1960 to 2024 about China and population.

China population growth rate for 2023 was -0.10%, a 0.09% decline from 2022.

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<li>China population growth rate for 2022 was <strong>-0.01%</strong>, a <strong>0.1% decline</strong> from 2021.</li>
<li>China population growth rate for 2021 was <strong>0.09%</strong>, a <strong>0.15% decline</strong> from 2020.</li>
<li>China population growth rate for 2020 was <strong>0.24%</strong>, a <strong>0.12% decline</strong> from 2019.</li>
</ul>Annual population growth rate for year t is the exponential rate of growth of midyear population from year t-1 to t, expressed as a percentage . Population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship.

In the world's most populous country, life expectancy has been continuously rising over the last decades, benefitting greatly from China's economic ascendance. In 2022, average life expectancy at birth in China reached about 78.6 years. Life expectancy at birth Life expectancy at birth refers to the average number of years a group of people born in the same year would live, assuming constant mortality rates. San Marino and Monaco had the highest life expectancy at birth, while China had reached a life expectancy above global average. People who were born in San Marino or Monaco in 2023 had a life expectancy of approximately 87 years or 86 years on average respectively. Demographic development in China Whereas average life expectancy at birth has been growing steadily, birth rates in China have been experiencing a slowdown. In 2024, about 6.77 babies had been born per 1,000 women in China, the second lowest point in the recent decade. As a result of low fertility rates and the extended life expectancy in China, the share of elderly people had been rising rapidly. The number of Chinese population aged 60 and older had more than doubled over the past three decades and is projected to reach its peak at 504 million in 2050. People aged 60 and older have been estimated to account for approximately one fourth of China’s total population by 2030, indicating a sharp climb from just around 13 percent in 2010. In order to pinpoint this massive shift in the age pyramid of China, an important indicator for measuring the pressure of aging population on productive population may be consulted. The old-age dependency ratio in China was expected to reach 52.3 percent in 2050.

Graph and download economic data for Population Ages 15 to 64 for China (SPPOP1564TOZSCHN) from 1960 to 2023 about 15 to 64 years, China, and population.

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.

China Population: Natural Growth Rate data was reported at -0.060 % in 2022. This records a decrease from the previous number of 0.034 % for 2021. China Population: Natural Growth Rate data is updated yearly, averaging 1.203 % from Dec 1949 (Median) to 2022, with 74 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 3.333 % in 1963 and a record low of -0.457 % in 1960. China Population: Natural Growth Rate 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: Natural Growth Rate: By Region.

Graph and download economic data for Population ages 65 and above for China (SPPOP65UPTOZSCHN) from 1960 to 2024 about 65-years +, China, and population.

China rural population for 2023 was 499,814,553, a 2.87% decline from 2022.

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<li>China rural population for 2022 was <strong>514,596,570</strong>, a <strong>2.81% decline</strong> from 2021.</li>
<li>China rural population for 2021 was <strong>529,465,517</strong>, a <strong>2.72% decline</strong> from 2020.</li>
<li>China rural population for 2020 was <strong>544,289,492</strong>, a <strong>2.59% decline</strong> from 2019.</li>
</ul>Rural population refers to people living in rural areas as defined by national statistical offices. It is calculated as the difference between total population and urban population. Aggregation of urban and rural population may not add up to total population because of different country coverages.

Chart and table of population level and growth rate for the Beijing, China metro area from 1950 to 2025.

Graph and download economic data for Population Ages 0 to 14 for China (SPPOP0014TOZSCHN) from 1960 to 2024 about 0 to 14 years, China, and population.

Graph and download economic data for Population, Total for China from 1960 to 2023 about China and population.

China: Percent urban population: The latest value from 2023 is 64.57 percent, an increase from 63.56 percent in 2022. In comparison, the world average is 61.36 percent, based on data from 196 countries. Historically, the average for China from 1960 to 2023 is 32.82 percent. The minimum value, 16.2 percent, was reached in 1960 while the maximum of 64.57 percent was recorded in 2023.

Historical chart and dataset showing China population density by year from 1961 to 2022.

Historical dataset showing China rural population by year from 1960 to 2023.

China Population: Number of Natural Growth data was reported at -0.850 Person mn in 2022. This records a decrease from the previous number of 0.480 Person mn for 2021. China Population: Number of Natural Growth data is updated yearly, averaging 12.085 Person mn from Dec 1950 (Median) to 2022, with 70 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 22.700 Person mn in 1963 and a record low of -3.040 Person mn in 1960. China Population: Number of Natural Growth 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 Birth, Death, Natural Growth, Birth Rate, Death Rate and Natural Growth Rate, Life Expectancy, Dependency Ratio.

Graph and download economic data for Age Dependency Ratio: Older Dependents to Working-Age Population for China (SPPOPDPNDOLCHN) from 1960 to 2024 about 64 years +, working-age, ratio, China, and population.

HK: Population: Male: Ages 60-64: % of Male Population data was reported at 7.661 % in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 7.303 % for 2016. HK: Population: Male: Ages 60-64: % of Male Population data is updated yearly, averaging 3.758 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 7.661 % in 2017 and a record low of 1.449 % in 1960. HK: Population: Male: Ages 60-64: % of Male Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Hong Kong – Table HK.World Bank: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Male population between the ages 60 to 64 as a percentage of the total male population.; ; World Bank staff estimates based on age/sex distributions of United Nations Population Division's World Population Prospects: 2017 Revision.; ;

In the past four centuries, the population of the United States has grown from a recorded 350 people around the Jamestown colony of Virginia in 1610, to an estimated 331 million people in 2020. The pre-colonization populations of the indigenous peoples of the Americas have proven difficult for historians to estimate, as their numbers decreased rapidly following the introduction of European diseases (namely smallpox, plague and influenza). Native Americans were also omitted from most censuses conducted before the twentieth century, therefore the actual population of what we now know as the United States would have been much higher than the official census data from before 1800, but it is unclear by how much. Population growth in the colonies throughout the eighteenth century has primarily been attributed to migration from the British Isles and the Transatlantic slave trade; however it is also difficult to assert the ethnic-makeup of the population in these years as accurate migration records were not kept until after the 1820s, at which point the importation of slaves had also been illegalized. Nineteenth century In the year 1800, it is estimated that the population across the present-day United States was around six million people, with the population in the 16 admitted states numbering at 5.3 million. Migration to the United States began to happen on a large scale in the mid-nineteenth century, with the first major waves coming from Ireland, Britain and Germany. In some aspects, this wave of mass migration balanced out the demographic impacts of the American Civil War, which was the deadliest war in U.S. history with approximately 620 thousand fatalities between 1861 and 1865. The civil war also resulted in the emancipation of around four million slaves across the south; many of whose ancestors would take part in the Great Northern Migration in the early 1900s, which saw around six million black Americans migrate away from the south in one of the largest demographic shifts in U.S. history. By the end of the nineteenth century, improvements in transport technology and increasing economic opportunities saw migration to the United States increase further, particularly from southern and Eastern Europe, and in the first decade of the 1900s the number of migrants to the U.S. exceeded one million people in some years. Twentieth and twenty-first century The U.S. population has grown steadily throughout the past 120 years, reaching one hundred million in the 1910s, two hundred million in the 1960s, and three hundred million in 2007. In the past century, the U.S. established itself as a global superpower, with the world's largest economy (by nominal GDP) and most powerful military. Involvement in foreign wars has resulted in over 620,000 further U.S. fatalities since the Civil War, and migration fell drastically during the World Wars and Great Depression; however the population continuously grew in these years as the total fertility rate remained above two births per woman, and life expectancy increased (except during the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918).

Since the Second World War, Latin America has replaced Europe as the most common point of origin for migrants, with Hispanic populations growing rapidly across the south and border states. Because of this, the proportion of non-Hispanic whites, which has been the most dominant ethnicity in the U.S. since records began, has dropped more rapidly in recent decades. Ethnic minorities also have a much higher birth rate than non-Hispanic whites, further contributing to this decline, and the share of non-Hispanic whites is expected to fall below fifty percent of the U.S. population by the mid-2000s. In 2020, the United States has the third-largest population in the world (after China and India), and the population is expected to reach four hundred million in the 2050s.