China's population drops for a second straight year as deaths jump

China's population dropped by 2 million people in 2023 in the second straight annual drop as births fell and deaths jumped.

The government's statistics bureau said Wednesday that the total population was 1.4 billion last year.

The number of deaths more than doubled to 690,000. Demographers were expecting a rise in deaths in the early part of last year because of the sudden lifting of China's COVID-19 restrictions in late 2022.

The number of births fell for the seventh year, though by less than in previous years. About 9 million babies were born last year, half of the total in 2016.