BEIJING (NEWSnet/AP) — China’s population fell by 2 million people in 2023, in its second straight annual decrease.

Births dropped for the seventh straight year and deaths jumped following the end of COVID-19 restrictions, the government said Wednesday.

The number of deaths rose by 690,000 to 11.1 million, more than double the previous year's increase. Demographers said the rise was driven by the aging of the population and the widespread COVID-19 outbreaks that started in December 2022 and continued into February of last year.

The total population stands at 1.4 billion, the statistics bureau said.

China, long the most populated country in the world, dropped into second place behind Indian in 2023, according to U.N. estimates.

Women are having fewer babies despite government incentives and the easing of its one-child policy in recent years to allow up to three children.

The number of births fell by 540,000, or 5.6%, which was smaller than the double-digit percent drops the previous three years. The 9 million babies born in 2023 were less than half the total in 2016. All the figures are estimates based on surveys and do not include Hong Kong and Macao. China conducts a full census every 10 years.

Demographer Zuo Xuejin, former executive vice president of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences., estimates the proportion of the population that is 65 or older could double to more than 30% by 2050.

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