China has succeeded in its target of keeping the population below 1.3 billion, according to the country's first nationwide census in 10 years. The census shows that China's population stands at 1.26 billion, an increase of 132.2 million in the last decade.
China eventually will be overtaken by India as the world's most populous country, if current trends continue. India's population has topped one billion for the first time. Provisional results from the Indian population census show a huge increase in numbers, despite the fact that the average annual growth rate has dropped to 1.93 per cent from a level of 2.14 in 1991.
According to the director of China's state statistical bureau, Mr Zhu Zhixin, the census results prove the one-child policy and the policy of encouraging later marriages and births had helped to slow down the growth in the population. "China has not only tided over the third baby boom since the founding of the People's Republic of China, and put the rapid population growth under control, but also enters the stage of low fertility rate," he told a press conference yesterday.
Ten million people were involved in carrying out the census last November. Mr Zhu acknowledged that the floating migrant population, estimated at 200 million, hampered the work.
He said many people with more than the allowed number of children or those not living where they were allowed to live failed to co-operate for fear of punishment.
The census shows that China's ageing population grew fast, with 88.11 million people aged over 65 accounting for 6.96 per cent of the population. This is up 1.39 per cent on the 1990 figure.
A huge increase in the urban population, which rose by 9.86 per cent in the last 10 years to 36.09 per cent, is reflected in the figures.
The figures also show that the education level of the population has improved dramatically, with illiteracy among people over 15 years down by 9.16 per cent from 15.88 in 1990 to 6.72 per cent last year.