Demographic processes in China have territorial features. The paper analyzes socio-demographic processes in three provinces of Northeast China: Heilongjiang, Liaoning, Jilin. The article aims to identify the regional features of China’s demographic situation on the example of its northeastern provinces, as well as to determine the factors that influenced the formation of modern socio-demographic processes in these territories. The article is based on data from the 2000–2020 National Population Census, current demographic records, and legal documents of China’s northeastern provinces on fertility. Retrospective data analysis showed that the fertility decline in the three northeastern provinces of China occurred even before the implementation of the family planning policy in 1980. The natural decline in the Northeast was registered in 2015 and has persisted until now. The birth rates of the three provinces in Northeast China studied had the lowest meanings in the country as of 2022. They were also among the five territories in China with the highest mortality rates. The ratio of natural and migratory gain (loss) in the northeastern provinces has changed since 2020. The maximum reduction of migration loss in all these provinces is recorded in 2021. In Heilongjiang Province, the migration loss in 2022 was 8 times lower than in 2018. The maximum increase in natural decline was observed in Jilin Province, where the increase of this indicator in 2022 was 11 times higher than in 2018. The research reveals that before the 2020s the population dynamics was determined by migration processes, and after 202,0 the role of natural decline increased. We found that the population decline in the northeastern provinces is due to the reasons characteristic of China as a whole, as well as having regional specifics
Keywords
China, Northeast China, Heilongjiang, Liaoning, Jilin, natural increase, fertility, migration, factors, population policy