According to local media, China's birth rate fell below 1% in 2020, the country's lowest fall in 43 years.

According to the Global Times newspaper, the country had 8.52 births for every 1,000 people, and natural population growth was 1.45 per 1,000 people, the lowest amount since 1978.

According to the publication, these figures are included in China's yearbook of statistics, which was produced throughout the last year.

Demographers blamed the low numbers on a drop in the number of women of reproductive age as well as the Covid-19 pandemic.

Marriages have also been on the decline since the beginning of 2021.

The seventh population census, conducted in May of this year, indicated that China is still the world's most populated country, with 1,411.78 million people, but growth in the previous decade has been moderate, and a demographic drop might begin in 2022.

This research also noted the birth of just 12 million births in 2020, a decrease for the fourth consecutive year, as well as an increase to 264.02 million people over 60, who currently account for 18.7 percent of the population.

It confirmed projections of a downward trend in the number of infants in comparison to 2019 when 14.65 million were born.

Earlier this year, there were 15.23 million new infants, up from 17.2 million in 2017 and 17.86 million in 2016, the year the one-child restriction was repealed.

Following the publication of these findings, the government promptly loosened its family planning policy, allowing couples to have up to a third child.