China is facing a brutal reality as it desperately tries to fix its population decline problem

• China's population fell for a second consecutive year as the birth rate reached a record low.
• The government has tried to address the issue by reversing old policies and giving incentives.
• But new policies will do little to address a deep-rooted problem in Chinese society, an expert says.

For the second year in a row, China's population fell.

Data from the country's National Bureau of Statistics showed that China's population declined by two million in 2023 while the birth rate fell from 6.77 births to 6.39 births per 1,000 people — a record low.