China reports steady population growth
Print Edition
CHINA’S population continued to grow steadily over the last decade, and its labor force remains abundant, data from the latest official census shows.
The population on the Chinese mainland has grown by an average annual rate of 0.53 percent from 2010 to 2020, the National Bureau of Statistics said yesterday, citing data from the seventh national census conducted last year.
The rate was slightly lower than the average annual growth of 0.57 percent from 2000 to 2010, according to the NBS.
“Data shows that China’s population has maintained slow growth in the past decade,” Ning Jizhe, head of the NBS, said.
China has conducted a national census every 10 years since the 1990s. The country’s population on the mainland has reached 1.41178 billion, up by 5.38 percent or 72.06 million from 2010, the latest census data shows.
Gender ratio of China’s mainland population continued to improve, with the male-to-female ratio hitting a record low of 105.07. It was slightly down from 105.20 in 2010.
The population of Shanghai is 24,870,895, of which 51.77 percent are male and 48.23 percent female. The gender ratio is 107.33. The proportion of population aged 60 and above is 23.38 percent in the city.
The figure does not include Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan residents, nor does it include foreigners who live in the mainland’s 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, said the NBS.
China’s working-age population, or people aged between 16 and 59, stands at 880 million, according to Ning. The average age of the Chinese population is 38.8, almost the same as the United States’ 38, he said.
Ning said the slight decrease in the annual growth rate was a result of mixed factors, including a continued drop in the number of women of childbearing age, couples delaying having children, and the rising cost of childbearing and parenting.
“This is an objective outcome of China’s economic development, particularly as the country’s industrialization and urbanization reaches a certain stage,” he said, noting that it is a universal issue and particularly evident in developed countries.
Chinese people aged 60 or above account for 18.7 percent of the country’s total population, 5.44 percentage points higher than in 2010 when the previous census was recorded.
An aging population is an important trend of social development, and it will be China’s basic national condition for a long time, which is both a challenge and an opportunity, said Ning.
China’s increasing elderly population will reduce the supply of labor force, and increase the burden on families’ elder care and the pressure on the supply of basic public services, he said. But it can also promote the development of the “silver economy,” expand the consumption of products and services for the elderly, and boost technical advances, he said.
China will make overall plans and take specific measures to address its aging population as a major national strategy now and for a period of time in the future, said Ning, adding that in-depth data analysis will be carried out to provide statistical support for policy-making.
He expects China’s population to stay above 1.4 billion “for a certain period in the future,” citing positive factors that will continue to support future growth.
He attributed the basically steady growth over the past decade to China’s large population base, which has ensured more than 10 million newborns every year, as well as a shift to the two-child policy that resulted in a rebound in the number of births.
In 2020, China’s population aged between zero and 14 hit 253.38 million, an increase of 30.92 million from 10 years ago, or 1.35 percentage points in proportion to the total population, census data shows.
In response to its rapidly aging population, China allowed all married couples to have two children in 2016. This followed an earlier policy easing in 2013 that allowed couples to have a second child if either parent was an only child.
Ning said the sustained increase in life expectancy also contributed to population growth. In China, the annual number of deaths has never surpassed the annual number of births, due to improvements in people’s livelihoods and health care.
“China’s population will peak in the future, but there remains uncertainty as to when specifically it will happen,” Ning said.
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