China's economy matched the government's ambitions for 5% growth last year, but in a lopsided fashion, with many people complaining of worsening living standards as Beijing struggles to transfer its industrial and export gains to consumers.

The fall came despite a slight rise in births last year, the first increase since 2016. State efforts to cajole women to have children have met resistance.

China’s population has fallen for the third straight year, pointing to further demographic challenges for the world’s second most populous nation that is now facing both an aging population and an emerging shortage of working age people able to support their elders.

China's population shrank further in 2024, even though births ticked upward for the first time in seven years.