Chinese Birth Rate Dropped Below ‘Warning Level’ in 2020 China’s state-run Global Times on Tuesday reported the country registered 10 million newborns in 2020, a 15-percent decline from 2019 that brought China’s birth rate well below the “warning level” demographics experts have established. According to the Global Times, there was some dispute between the Ministry of Public Security and the National Bureau of Statistics about precisely how many children were born in China last year, but no matter which agency gets the last word, the demographic news is not good: There has been a declining curve of yearly new births in China — 17.86 million, 17.23 million, 15.23 million and 14.65 million in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 respectively, according to data released by the NBS.