China’s Births May Drop to Record Low in 2021, Jefferies Says

The number of babies born in China this year may drop to the lowest since at least 1950, according to Jefferies Financial Group Inc., one of the reasons why the government is cracking down on industries like education to bring down costs and promote bigger families.

An analysis of local government data showed that China’s newborns may have fallen by 17% in some regions in the first half of the year compared with the same period in 2020, researchers led by Simon Powell wrote in a note. Extending that drop to the whole country means “there is a risk that newborns might fall below 10 million in 2021,” they said.