Births drop 2 years in row

Births on the Chinese mainland declined by 2 million last year, the second consecutive year of decline since a universal second-child policy was adopted, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Monday.

Last year, 15.23 million babies were born on the mainland, compared with 17.23 million in 2017, while the birthrate dropped in 2018 to 10.94 per 1,000 from 12.43 per 1,000 in 2017, according to the bureau.

The Chinese mainland's population reached 1.395 billion last year, an increase of 5.3 million year-on-year, the figures showed.