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 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.