(Chinanews.com/Jin Shuo)

China’s population is expected to experience continuous negative growth from 2030 after reaching a peak of 1.44 billion in 2029, said a report published by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences on Thursday.

The country’s population is expected to shrink to 1.36 billion in 2050, and 1.25 billion in 2065.

The report warned that if the total fertility rate, which means the number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime, remains at 1.6, negative population growth is likely in 2027, with a potential total population of 1.17 billion, which is equivalent to the year 1990.

The World Bank estimated that after 1996, China’s fertility rate was lower than 1.6, rising back up to 1.6 in 2013 and 1.62 in 2016. The report noted that if China could maintain this momentum in growth, China’s fertility rate would return to a relatively safe level.