Population statistics published by the National Bureau of Statistics of China show a sharp decline in birth rates in Xinjiang amid reports of mass internment and population control of ethnic minorities in the region. According to the figures, the region’s growth rate shrank by around two-thirds within two years. Between 2017 and 2019, the birth rate in Xinjiang almost halved, dropping from 15.88 per

cent in 2017 to 8.14 in 2019, while China’s national average rate decreased by around 2 per cent in the same period. The China Statistical Yearbook showed that the population growth rate in the region shrank by two-thirds from 2017 to 2019, dropping from 11.40 per cent to 6.13 in the first year, and to 3.69 per cent in the second.