China's population is shrinking — and the decline is accelerating. The country's population fell for the fourth year in a row, falling by 3.39 million to 1.405 billion people in 2025, according to new data from China's National Bureau of Statistics. Its birth rate hit its lowest level on record — 5.63 per 1,000 people — since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, while the death rate climbed to 8.04 per 1,000 people. The number of babies born in the country dropped to 7.92