Abstract: The current population situation in China is reported in this summary of a address delivered by Minister Peng Peiyun of the State Family Planning Commission at the National Forum on Family Planning on March 21, 1993. One problem was the absolute large number of annual births of 22.59 million newborns in 1991 and 21.19 million in 1992 and the prospects of continued large populations for almost a century, even with the present family planning efforts. Another issue was the variability in fertility rather than the maintenance of a stable low fertility and the imbalance in implementation of the family planning program. Fecund women aged 20-29 years will be at the peak value between 1997 and 2000 in Ningxia, Xinjiang, Guizhou, Yunnan, Tibet, and Guangxi, regions where the family planning program has been more difficult to implement. Social and economic conditions have become more favorable for acceptance of family planning, but some new problems are that local leaders are more concerned with economic reforms and take family planning for granted, that family planning departments have been annexed or folded, and that workers have changed jobs. The most difficult areas for implementation of family planning are vast rural tracts. Another concern is the rising sex ratio. Based on the State Family Planning Survey for 1992, the birth rate was 18.14/1000 and the rate of natural increase was 11.8/1000. Between 1987 and 1992, there was a rapid increase in contraceptive prevalence rates for couples of childbearing age, which helped to reduce unplanned, second-parity and higher-parity births. Early marriage decreased from 2.79 million in 1987 to 1.45 million in 1992; the proportion of delayed marriages increased by 7.5%. The number of third- and higher-parity births declined from about 4.46 million in 1987 to 2.02 million in 1992. Provinces with a rate of natural increase below 10% and a total fertility rate (TFR) below 1.5 were Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong, and Sichuan, with 37.88% of the total population. Progress, but unstable fertility and a TFP below 2.25 and a rate of natural increase of 9.4/1000, were evident in Heibei, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Anhui, Fujian, Jiangsu, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Guangdon, Guangxi, Shaanxi, and Gansu, with 52.75% of the total population. Family planning has been less effective in Hainan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Tibet, Ningxia, and Xinjiang with a TFR of 2.3-4.5.
Publication Year: 1993
Publication Date: 1993-04-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['pubmed']
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Cited By Count: 1
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