China's population fell last year for the third straight year, its government said Friday, pointing to further demographic challenges for the world's second most populous nation, which is now facing both an aging population and an emerging shortage of working age people.

China recorded its third consecutive year of population decline in 2024, despite the country’s first increase in births in almost a decade in a year traditionally regarded as auspicious. Figures released on Friday by the National Bureau of Statistics showed the country recorded 9.

China’s population continued to decline last year—though births edged up for the first time in eight years—falling for a third straight year as deaths outpaced births.China had seen birth numbers plummet since 2017,