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UN official praises China for helping lower population growth
Source: Xinhua |
August 26, 2009, Wednesday
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CHINA'S family planning policy has helped lower the growth rate of the world population, according to a senior United Nations official.
In a recent exclusive interview with Xinhua, Hania Zlotnik, director of the Population Division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), said: "We know that China, being the most populous country in the world, is especially important in the area of population because whatever happens in China has a great impact on the population of the world, and certainly of the population in the developing world."
Zlotnik, a Mexican citizen, was appointed director of DESA in February 2005 after working in the division for 23 years. She is the 10th person to serve as division director and the first woman to hold the position.
"Where China won in a way is that they have a nice slogan: 'One Child Per Family.'" Zlotnik said. "Many countries have had slogans like 'Two Children Per Family.'"
"Thanks to changes in fertility, especially in China, the growth rate of the world population and of the developing country population is a quarter of a point lower today than it would have been if China did not have such a big drop in family size," she said.
China's family planning policy, under which most couples have one child in urban areas and two in rural areas, has been in effect for more than three decades. It has helped prevent an estimated 400 million births. That means if China had not implemented its family planning policy, its total population would have exceeded 1.7 billion in 2008.
What "we have been seeing in China, when the families become smaller, is that parents have a vested interest in educating their children," she said.
China, she said, was at the forefront of achieving one of the UN's millennium development goals - universal primary education.
In a recent exclusive interview with Xinhua, Hania Zlotnik, director of the Population Division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), said: "We know that China, being the most populous country in the world, is especially important in the area of population because whatever happens in China has a great impact on the population of the world, and certainly of the population in the developing world."
Zlotnik, a Mexican citizen, was appointed director of DESA in February 2005 after working in the division for 23 years. She is the 10th person to serve as division director and the first woman to hold the position.
"Where China won in a way is that they have a nice slogan: 'One Child Per Family.'" Zlotnik said. "Many countries have had slogans like 'Two Children Per Family.'"
"Thanks to changes in fertility, especially in China, the growth rate of the world population and of the developing country population is a quarter of a point lower today than it would have been if China did not have such a big drop in family size," she said.
China's family planning policy, under which most couples have one child in urban areas and two in rural areas, has been in effect for more than three decades. It has helped prevent an estimated 400 million births. That means if China had not implemented its family planning policy, its total population would have exceeded 1.7 billion in 2008.
What "we have been seeing in China, when the families become smaller, is that parents have a vested interest in educating their children," she said.
China, she said, was at the forefront of achieving one of the UN's millennium development goals - universal primary education.
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