During the nearly three decades since the “one-child” policy was introduced, live births have dropped from 22.5 million per year in the early 1980’s to around 16-17 million by the middle of this decade. Moreover, with the number of elderly growing as a result of rising life expectancy, this low birth rate has pushed the share of those aged 65 and above from 4.9% of the total population to 7.7%.
在“独生子女”政策推行的近三十年时间里，每年出生的新生儿从二十世纪八十年代早期的2250万降到了近几年的大约1600-1700万。此外，因为预期寿命的增高带来了老年人口的增加，这种低出生率使得65岁以上的老年人的比率从总人口的4.9%增加到了7.7%。