China’s population shrank last year for the first time in more than 60 years, a historic shift that is likely to have long-term implications for both the domestic and global economies.

The country’s population fell by 850,000 last year to 1.41 billion. The drop was the first since 1961.

“This is really a historic turning point, the beginning of a long-term and irreversible population decline,” said Wang Feng, an expert on demographic change at the University of California.

China’s population decline officially began last year, when deaths exceeded births, but some demographers believe the trend started even earlier, the Financial Times said.

Experts note that the country’s policy of strict coronavirus restrictions has accelerated the decline in birth rates, with many couples postponing or refusing to have children amid the epidemiological crisis and economic downturn.

In 2022, 9.56 million children were born in the country, compared to 10.62 million a year earlier.

The number of women of reproductive age (from 15 to 49 years) in the past year fell by more than 4 million, said the director of the State Statistical Administration (SSA) of China Kang Yi.

Stock quotes of Chinese companies that produce goods for children, sharply declining on Tuesday after the publication of demographic statistics.

The value of securities Kidswant Children Products fell by 7.5%, Ningbo David Medical Device – by 7.4%, China Feihe – by 2.3%.

Beijing has had a “one family, one child” policy since 1979, which it abandoned in 2016 by allowing families to have two children. However, the country’s birth rate has steadily fallen since then, the FT notes.

China’s mortality rate in 2022 was the highest since 1970, at 7.37 deaths per 1,000 people.

Fuxian Yi, a demographer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, believes the country’s population decline began as early as 2018, but the trend was “masked in the demographic statistics”.

“China is facing a demographic crisis that has significantly exceeded the imagination of the country’s authorities and the international community,” says the expert, emphasizing that this factor will in the long term limit the housing market, which is an important engine of growth for the country’s economy.

According to last year’s UN forecast, China’s population will shrink to 1.31 billion people by 2050. India, which has a population of about 1.4066 billion people, is expected to take the world’s top spot by 2023.