China’s statistical authority has released concerning figures on population development alongside questionable economic data. According to the statistics bureau, the declining birth rate in China has further accelerated since last year. According to the statistics bureau, approximately 1.409 billion people lived in the People’s Republic at the end of December, 2.08 million fewer than a year earlier. China’s population had already shrunk for the first time in six decades in 2022, although the decline was significantly smaller at around 850,000 people than in the past year.