China

ON JANUARY 6, 2005, China officially reached a population of 1.3 billion. With this number, the country accounts for one-fifth of the world's population. The real size of the Chinese population is, however, unknown, in particular because of secret and thus unregistered births in the rural parts and questionable counting methods. Despite a number of loopholes, the one-child policy has contributed to a decline of the fertility rate from 2.29 children per woman in 1980 to 1.69 children per woman in 2004, and to 300 million fewer births in the last 30 years. The policy has helped to ease the pressure on resources and reduce poverty.

However, the policy is currently being questioned because of an increasingly aging population and a strong imbalance in the sex ratio of 118 boys to 100 girls. The population number excludes Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macao. The average life expectancy climbed from 63.2 years in the first half of the 1970s to 71 years in the period 2000–05. Life expectancy in 2002 climbed to 68.8 years for men and 73.2 years for women. The infant mortality rate was down to 31 (per 1,000 live births) in 2002, from 85 in 1970.

The under-five mortality rate fell from 120 to 39 in the same period. Living standards have increased and the diet has improved. The official adult literacy rate of 2002 is 90.9 percent (86.5 for women, 95.1 for men); the combined gross enrollment ratio for primary, secondary, and tertiary schools is 68 percent (64 for women, 69 for men). Within a decade, the percentage of undernourished people fell from 17 percent to 11 percent, and the population with sustainable access to improved sanitation rose from 29 percent to 40 percent. Eleven percent of the under-5-year olds are underweight; 16 percent of the under-5-year olds are under-height. Between [Page 159]80 and 94 percent of the population have sustainable access to affordable essential drugs. The annual average growth rate of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita was 8.2 percent between 1975 and 2002, and 8.6 percent between 1990 and 2002. In 2004, GDP rose officially by 9.5 percent.

Unemployment is rising high; 10 million workers per year enter the urban employment market; 14 million are still laid off from state-owned enterprises; and in 2003, 110 million migrants sought work and an estimated 150 million surplus laborers could be found in the countryside. Of the population, 16.6 percent live below the income poverty line of $1 a day, 46.7 percent below the line of $2 per day.