China Birth Rate Hits Lowest Since 1949 in Blow to Baby Drive

China’s birth rate fell to its lowest on record, defying efforts to encourage childrearing and putting more pressure on the world’s second-largest economy to boost productivity and stave off long-term decline.

The number of births for every thousand people dropped to 5.6 last year, the lowest since at least the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949. The total population shrank by 3.39 million, the sharpest contraction since the Mao Zedong era.