The year of the dragon has historically augured a spike in births in China and other countries in east Asia as potential parents try to time the births of their offspring with an auspicious zodiac sign.
But experts said this demographic idiosyncrasy was unlikely to come to Beijing’s aid in this dragon year — which begins next month — after a gloomy economic outlook, ageing society and the coronavirus pandemic pushed China’s population to a second annual decline in 2023.
On Wednesday, official data showed that deaths in China exceeded births by 2mn last year. The country registered 11mn deaths against 9mn births, down from 9.6mn in 2022, resulting in a population of 1.4bn.
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