China's total population fell for a third consecutive year to 1.408 billion in 2024 despite an uptick in the number of newborns year-on-year, data released on Friday shows.

The National Bureau of Statistics said the total number of people dropped by 1.39 million by the end of 2024, compared to a fall of 2.08 million in 2023 and 850,000 in 2022.

The number of newborns in 2024 reached 9.54 million, up from 9.02 million in 2023. The slight increase matches experts' prediction, saying that the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, the auspicious zodiac sign of the Year of the Dragon, and a rebound in new marriage registrations would lift the birthrate in 2024.

The number of deaths outpaced the number of births by a little margin, standing at 10.93 million, the data shows.

The number of people aged 60 years and older reached 310 million in 2024, or 22 percent of the total population. The ratio of the elderly in 2023 was 21.1 percent.

The nation's urbanization rate went up by 0.84 percentage points to 67 percent by the end of 2024, the bureau added.