According to data published on Monday by the National Bureau of Statistics of China, the country's population decreased by 3.39 million people by the end of 2025, totaling 1.404 billion people. This information was also disseminated by RIA Novosti.
In 2025, excluding residents of Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan, as well as foreigners, the population of China was 1.404 billion, which is 3.39 million less compared to 2024. According to the bureau, the birth rate this year was 5.63 per thousand, while the mortality rate was 8.04 per thousand.
In terms of gender, the number of men in China in 2025 was 716.85 million, while the number of women was 688.04 million, according to the provided statistical data.
Regarding the age structure, the number of citizens aged 16 to 59 was 851.36 million, accounting for 60.6% of the total population. At the same time, the number of people over 60 reached 323.38 million, which is 23% of the total population, of which 223.65 million are people aged 65 and older, corresponding to 15.9% of the total population of China, as indicated by the bureau's data.
In 2025, the number of urban residents was 953.8 million, an increase of 10.3 million compared to the previous year. At the same time, the number of rural residents decreased by 13.69 million, with the urban population accounting for 67.89% of the total, according to the bureau's information.
China today faces serious demographic challenges, including gender imbalance and an aging population. One of the reasons for these changes is the "one family, one child" policy introduced in the late 1970s, which limited the number of children in urban families to one, while allowing two in rural areas if the firstborn was a girl.
