According to national statistics, China has recorded an annual average of about 9 million abortions in most years.

But the number has been on the rise since 2017. There were 9.6 million induced abortions registered in 2017, or 17.4 per cent of the global total of 55 million cases.

In 2019, the number exceeded 9.76 million cases but the real number has been widely estimated at 13 million by experts and local media reports. Government statistics do not capture abortion cases in private hospitals and underground clinics.

Local studies have shown most of the abortions are performed on young and unmarried women who have never given birth before.