The number of new babies born in China dropped to 7.9 million in 2025, the lowest number in more than seven decades. As Statista's Anna Fleck reports, according to the National Statistics Bureau of China (NBS), the country’s birth rate fell to 5.63 per 1,000 people in 2025. This resulted in last year being the fourth consecutive year for the country’s population to fall, reaching 1.4 billion. That is certainly the case elsewhere in Asia, particularly in Japan and South Korea where birth rates have dropped significantly. The situation is especially concerning in South Korea where there were more deaths than births last year.