Riyaz Ul Khaliq
12 May 2021•Update: 12 May 2021
ANKARA
The latest census figures released by Beijing on Tuesday showed China's population has reached 1.41178 billion.
China is the world's most populated nation.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released data today from the country's seventh national population census conducted in mainland China last year.
The population data, however, does not include figures from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan residents and foreigners who live in the mainland's 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, the NBS added.
A comparison between 2010 and 2020 census data shows the Chinese population increased by 5.38% from 1.340 billion during the sixth census.
China reported an annual growth rate of 0.53% between 2010 and 2020, slightly lower than the 0.57% rate during the 2000-2010 period.
Data revealed that the number of Chinese people aged 60 and above reached 264.02 million in 2020, accounting for 18.7% of the country's total population and up by 5.44% from 2010.
The data shows there were 253.38 million people in the age group of 0 to 14 in 2020, or 17.95% of the population.
The country also saw a decline in the birth rate as 12 million babies were born last year, down from 14.65 million in 2019, which is an 18% decline year-on-year.
"The census data also show some structural contradictions facing the country's population development, such as the decline in the size of the working-age population and women of childbearing age, the deepening of the aging degree, the decline in the total fertility rate, and the downturn in the number of births," said the NBS commissioner Ning Jizhe.
