China's Population Has Shrunk. India Might Now Be the World's Most Populous Country.

The article discusses China's first population decline in over sixty years, as reported by the National Bureau of Statistics, revealing that deaths (10.41 million) exceeded births (9.56 million) in 2022, resulting in a decrease of 850,000 people to a total of 1.41175 billion. This decline raises the possibility that India may have already surpassed China as the world's most populous country, despite uncertainties in India's population data collection methods. Experts, including Yi Fuxian from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, attribute China's demographic crisis to high living costs and the long-term effects of past population control policies, including the one-child policy. Despite recent government efforts to encourage higher birth rates, such as tax incentives and extended maternity leave, these measures have not yet reversed the trend of declining births. [Extracted from the article]