The population stood at 1.408 billion by the end of the year, Beijing’s National Bureau of Statistics said, down from 1.410 billion in 2023.

But the decline was less sharp than the previous year, when it was more than double the fall reported for 2022, data showed.

China ended its strict “one-child policy”, imposed in the 1980s over overpopulation fears, in 2016 and started letting couples have three children in 2021.

But that has failed to reverse the demographic decline for a country that has long relied on its vast workforce as a driver of economic growth.

Many blame falling birth rates on the soaring cost of living as well as the growing number of women going into the workforce and seeking higher education.

People over 60 are expected to make up nearly a third of China’s population by 2035, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit, a research group.

And data released Friday showed that the population aged 60 and over reached 310.31 million – just a few percentage points short of a quarter of the country and an increase from the nearly 297 million recorded in 2023.

In September, officials said they would gradually raise the statutory retirement age, which had not been raised for decades and had been among the lowest in the world.

The rules took effect from January 1.

China’s current retirement age was set at a time of widespread scarcity and impoverishment, well before market reforms brought comparative wealth and rapid improvements in nutrition, health and living conditions.

But in recent years, the world’s second-largest economy has had to contend with slowing growth, while a fast-greying population and a baby bust have piled pressure onto its pension and public health systems.