China's birth rate declines in 2025 after brief rebound

China registered 7.92 million births in 2025, marking a decline in the birth rate following a one year rebound, according to an official bulletin released on Friday by the National Health Commission.

The nation's population stood at 1.40489 billion at the end of 2025, the bulletin showed, with the birth rate hitting 5.63 per 1,000 people, while 11.31 million deaths were recorded, corresponding to a mortality rate of 8.04 per 1,000.

The natural population growth rate dropped to -2.41 per 1,000 last year, the bulletin added.

Historical data shows China recorded annual births of 10.62 million, 9.56 million, 9.02 million and 9.54 million between 2021 and 2024 respectively. After rising 0.38 per thousand year-on-year in 2024, the birth rate slipped again in 2025.

The bulletin said that China's sex ratio at birth came in at 111.5 last year, meaning 111.5 boys were born for every 100 girls. The figure remains slightly above the United Nations recommended range of 103-107, and represents an improvement of 0.2 from 2024.

On key health metrics, average life expectancy in China reached 79.25 years by the end of 2025. The maternal mortality rate fell to 13.4 per 100,000 live births, and the infant mortality rate declined to 3.8 per 1,000.

The bulletin also noted that China's total health expenditure exceeded 9.33 trillion yuan ($1.39 trillion) in 2025, accounting for 6.7 percent of the country's GDP.