ANKARA
China’s population grew by 7.1 million last year, official statistics published Thursday showed – the equivalent of adding another Hong Kong to the world’s most populous country.
While the 5.21 percent increase is a drop in the ocean for China – with a population that now stands at 1.367 billion, according to the National Bureau of Statistics – it outstrips the entire number of people in countries such as Bulgaria, Libya and Uruguay.
The birth of 16.87 million babies in the People’s Republic was partly offset by 9.77 million deaths in 2014, the China Daily newspaper said.
The bureau reported an annual birth rate that had fallen by 4 million since the 1990s, when it stood at around 20 million. However, an increase of 1 million births is expected this year as the government relaxes the one-child-policy introduced in the late 1970s.
The report also pointed to the urbanization trend with more than half of those who took part in the census living in cities and towns.
According to the CIA World Factbook, Hong Kong’s estimated population stood at 7,112,688 in July last year.
