China's birth-rate push sputters as couples stay child-free

A decade since China scrapped its stringent one-child policy and implemented a two-child policy in January 2016, the nation is dealing with a looming demographic crisis. The country's population has shrunk for three straight years, with the United Nations predicting it could fall from 1.4 billion today to 633 million by 2100. There were just 9.54 million births in China in 2024 -- half the number than in 2016 -- and concerns about the shrinking and ageing population have been growing as couples choose to buck traditional Chinese norms.