中国官方新华社援引官方数据称，中国首都北京的人口在2017年下降，这是20年来的第一次。
新华社称，去年北京永久居民人数达到2170.7万人，比上一年减少22,000人。
新华社援引市人民代表大会的报告称，北京市六个城区的人数从2016年到2017年下降了3％。
北京当局一直在努力遏制人口增长，这是缓解城市交通拥堵、资源短缺和房价飞涨的部分努力。
自1998年以来，北京的人口增长了三分之二，而能源消耗增加了一倍以上，车辆数量增加了两倍。北京政府在2016年表示，将设法在本世纪末前将人口数量限制在2300万。
北京市一直致力于与邻近的河北省和天津市进行经济上的整合，允许其部分大学、政府部门和工业企业迁出。
它还在河北的雄安建立了一个新的开发区，承担北京的一些“非首都”功能，同时也在交通网络上进行大量投资，为长途通勤者提供便利。
虽然北京和上海等大城市都试图控制人口增长，但中国从整体上在努力提高出生率。中国的出生率在2017年下降，预计今年将进一步下降。
根据去年中国社会保障协会发布的数据，中国的老年人口预计到2035年底将达到4亿，高于今年的2.4亿，这将给其其医疗服务和养老基金带来巨大压力。
The population of China’s capital, Beijing, fell for the first time in two decades in 2017, the official Xinhua news agency reported Thursday, citing official data.
The number of permanent residents reached 21.707 million last year, 22,000 fewer than the previous year, Xinhua said.
The number of people in the city’s six urban districts fell 3 percent from 2016 to 2017, the Xinhua report said, citing the city’s People’s Congress.
Authorities in Beijing have been trying to curb population growth as part of their efforts to ease traffic congestion, resource shortages and house price inflation.
Beijing’s population has risen by two-thirds since 1998, while energy consumption has more than doubled and the number of vehicles tripled. It said in 2016 it would try to cap its population at 23 million by the end of the decade.
The city has been working on integrating its economy with the neighboring province of Hebei and the city of Tianjin in a bid to allow some of its universities, government departments and industrial firms to move out.
It has also set up a new development zone at Xiongan in Hebei to take on some of Beijing’s “non-capital” functions, and it is also investing heavily on transportation networks in order to make it easier for long-distance commuters.
While big cities like Beijing and Shanghai have sought to control population growth, China as a whole is trying to boost its birth rate, which fell in 2017 and is expected to decline further this year.
China’s elderly population is expected to reach 400 million by the end of 2035, up from around 240 million this year, putting its health services and pension funds under immense strain, according to data published last year by the China Association of Social Security, a research group.