Dhaka, Feb. 4 -- International analysts have expressed serious concern about the future growth of the world's second-largest economy after a decline in China's population for a second consecutive year. Once the world's most populous nation, China has now been overtaken by India last year. The UN. National data has shown that its population stood at 1.409 billion, down some 2.08m from the previous year. Comparatively, India's population stands at 1.425 billion.

The Chinese decrease is more than double the previous year's loss of 850,000 people. That had marked the country's first downturn in 60 years -- the result of decades of falling birth rates and rapid urbanisation. Beijing has observed that the birth rate is now down to 6.39 per 1,0...