China's Population Growth May Begin To Decline From 2030: Report

The population of China is expected to reach its peak in 2029 and then decline from 2030 onward, a report published in People's Daily said on Friday.

The "Green Book of Population and Labour" report by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said that in 2029, China's population will be 1.44 billion and will start declining from the following year onward.

China's population is expected to reduce to 1.36 billion in 2050 and to around 1.25 billion in 2065, similar to that of the year 1999, Efe news reported citing the daily.

The report, however, said if the total fertility rate is maintained at 1.6, the negative population growth is likely to begin in 2027 "with a potential total population of 1.17 billion, which is equivalent to the year 1990", according to People's Daily.

China is aware of the demographic risks of the country and has taken measures to put an end to the one-child policy, allowing people to have a second child in 2015 in order to prevent a large ageing population.

In 2017, the number of second children in China rose to 8.83 million.

However, experts recently warned that the number of births in China in 2018 was the lowest since 2000. Some 15 million births in 2018 indicate a decline of nearly 15 per cent as compared to 2017.