Babies born: China, 1955–2023
Draw it before you lookCould you sketch this curve from memory? Draw it, then see how close you were.Babies born in China: how has it changed since 1955?
Babies born (China) went from 25.7M in 1955 to 8.9M in 2023.
The famine of 1959 to 1961 cut China's births sharply. Then came a rebound to 33.5 million babies in 1963. Those babies had their own children in the late 1980s. Births have about halved since 2015 to 8.9 million in 2023: the fewest since records began in 1950.
What are the key figures?
- First year
- 25.7M in 1955
- Latest year
- 8.9M in 2023
- Highest
- 33.5M in 1963
- Lowest
- 8.9M in 2023
- Change
- 2.9× lower
What does this chart measure?
Babies born (births per year). Number of babies born alive in a year. One value every 4 years.
What happened along the way?
- 1961Great Leap famine
- 2016Two-child policy
What are the exact numbers?
| Year | births per year |
|---|---|
| 1955 | 25.7M |
| 1959 | 20.3M |
| 1963 | 33.5M |
| 1967 | 27.5M |
| 1971 | 29.7M |
| 1975 | 23.1M |
| 1979 | 21.2M |
| 1983 | 21.7M |
| 1987 | 27.6M |
| 1991 | 22.6M |
| 1995 | 19M |
| 1999 | 16.9M |
| 2003 | 16.2M |
| 2007 | 17.2M |
| 2011 | 17.8M |
| 2015 | 17.5M |
| 2019 | 14.6M |
| 2023 | 8.9M |
Where does the data come from?
Number of births. UN, World Population Prospects (2024). Data published by Our World in Data under CC BY 4.0.
Played in CurvGuessr puzzle #3, November 7, 2026. Past puzzles
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