The current population of China in 2023 is 1,425,671,352, a 0.02% decline from 2022. The population of China in 2022 was 1,425,887,337, a 0% increase from 2021. The population of China in 2021 was 1,425,893,465, a 0.07% increase from 2020.
1,411,750,000 (2022 est.) 6.77 births per 1,000 (2022 est.) 7.37 deaths per 1,000 (2022 est.) 1.08 children per woman (2022 est.)
WPP projections still overestimate China's population. While the 2022 WPP puts the Chinese population at 1.43 billion people, I estimate that it is now smaller than 1.28 billion. Moreover, according to the WPP, there were 28.2 million births in China in 1990 and 17.4 million in 2000.
China is facing a population crisis in part due to more women choosing to focus on their careers and personal goals, instead of starting a family. The Chinese government abolished its one-child policy in 2016, and scrapped childbirth limits in 2021 — but married couples are still having fewer children.
Indeed, according to current projections, China's population is likely to drop below 1 billion by 2080 and below 800 million by 2100.
In 2100, the Australian population is projected to be 42.9 million people equivalent to a more than 10-fold increase since 1900 and a more than doubling during the 21st century. Australia is the 13 largest economy in the world. The country is expected to drop to 16th place by 2030 and out of the top 20 by 2050.
According to Policy Brief No. 153 from the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), entitled “India overtakes China as the world's most populous country”, between 2023 and 2050, the number of persons aged 65 or over is expected to nearly double in China and to increase by more than double in ...
Fertility rates in Australia and around the world
Dr Allen says the decline in the average number of children per woman is a result of increased education and paid employment for women. Women are starting families later and consequently having fewer children, and more people are choosing to be child-free.
In 2020-21, the fertility rate was 1.66 babies per woman, similar to the rate recorded in 2018-19. In 2019-20, the rate had fallen to 1.61 babies per woman. According to the report, the data suggests people “adapted to the uncertainty of the pandemic and quickly caught-up on delayed childbearing plans”.
World's population could plummet to 6 billion by the end of the century, study suggests. A new model has predicted that Earth's population is likely to decrease in all scenarios across the next century and will peak nowhere near the 11 billion previously forecast.
Using coercion and fines, China was adept at preventing couples from having children during the decades of its one-child policy. It has been less successful in fostering a “birth-friendly society.”
Russia's Population Decline Hits Record Rate
But even in the case of the average outlook, Russia's population is expected to dip below 146 million in the early parts of the 2021-2100 forecast period unless compensated by 900,000 migrants a year throughout that period.
Having a large population means more people to feed. This creates pressure on the on the stock of food and in turn reduces China's economic development. Although China has large areas and fertile land for farming crops, there are still high levels of undernourishment in the population, especially in rural areas.
The current birth rate for China in 2023 is 10.645 births per 1000 people, a 2.36% decline from 2022. The birth rate for China in 2022 was 10.902 births per 1000 people, a 2.3% decline from 2021. The birth rate for China in 2021 was 11.159 births per 1000 people, a 2.25% decline from 2020.
94% of China's population lives east of the Heihe–Tengchong Line. West of the line: 57% of the area; only 6% of the population. East of the line: 43% of the area; 94% of the population. The line roughly demarcates historic Han China from territories occupied by force.
Race & Ethnicity
The largest China racial/ethnic groups are White (96.9%) followed by Hispanic (1.7%) and Black (0.8%).
It's no secret that Australians are having fewer children. The latest ABS statistics reveal our fertility rate was 1.7 – well below the so-called replacement rate needed to keep the population growing. The last time our fertility rate was this low we started literally paying people to have babies.
“Australia's population was at a near standstill through the September quarter of 2021, growing by under 0.1 per cent (12,100 people) to 25.8 million, an annual increase of 68,900 people,” Ms Cho said.
South Korea has had the lowest fertility rate in the world since 2013. The fertility rate is the average number of children born to a woman in her reproductive years. The drop in fertility rates has left countries facing a future of aging populations and shrinking workforces.
Since 1976, Australia's total fertility rate has been below replacement level (about 2.1 births per woman). Replacement level is the level at which a population is replaced from one generation to the next without immigration.
Australia is one of the safest places in the world to give birth. And yet our health system sometimes fails women, their families, and the professionals who provide support. The Birth Project is a deep dive into pregnancy, birth, and postpartum experiences, right across Australia.
In the table below, countries are ranked from the highest to lowest average births per woman in 2020. The African country of Niger currently has the highest fertility rate, at 6.9, which means on average, a woman in Niger will have seven children in her lifetime.
In April 2023, India's population is expected to reach 1,425,775,850 people, matching and then surpassing the population of mainland China (figure 1).
As a result, six of the seven largest economies in the world are projected to be emerging economies in 2050 led by China (1st), India (2nd) and Indonesia (4th) The US could be down to third place in the global GDP rankings while the EU27's share of world GDP could fall below 10% by 2050.
China's population growth rate surpassed the world average from 1949 to the late 1970s. Under Mao's leadership, the government promoted pro-natal policies and remunerated families not according to their productivity but by the number of workers.