The
demographics of the People's Republic of China are
characterized by a large population with
a relatively small youth cohort,
which is partially a result of the People's
Republic of China
's one-child
policy. The population policies implemented in China
since 1979 have helped to prevent an extra 400 million births.
Others believe this figure is greatly exaggerated and that the true
impact is closer to 50–60 million.
Today, China's population is over 1,3 billion, the
largest in the world.
However, according to some estimates, it could be much higher (1,5
to 2 billion). China plans to conduct its sixth national population
census in 2010.
History
Census
The People's Republic of China conducted censuses in 1953, 1964,
and 1982. In 1987 the government announced that the fourth national
census would take place in 1990 and that there would be one every
ten years thereafter. The 1982 census, which reported a total
population of 1,008,180,738, is generally accepted as significantly
more reliable, accurate, and thorough than the previous two.
Various international organizations eagerly assisted the Chinese in
conducting the 1982 census, including the
United Nations
Fund for Population Activities, which donated US$15.6 million
for the preparation and execution of the census.
China has been the world's most populous nation for many centuries.
When China took its first post-1949
census in
1953, the population stood at 582 million; by the fifth census in
2000, the population had more than doubled, reaching 1.2
billion.
In the 1920s and 1930s, Chinese interest in social programs through
reproductive control, including
eugenics, intensified. Beginning in the
mid-1950s, the Chinese government introduced, with varying degrees
of success, a number of
family
planning, or
population
control, campaigns and programs. China’s fast-growing
population was a major policy matter for its leaders in the
mid-twentieth century, so that in the early 1970s, the government
implemented the stringent
one-child
policy (publicly announced in 1979). Under this policy, which
had different guidelines for national minorities, married couples
were officially permitted only one child. As a result of the
policy, China successfully achieved its goal of a more stable and
much-reduced
fertility rate; in 1971
women had an average of 5.4 children versus an estimated 1.7
children in 2004. Enforcement of the program, however, varied
considerably from place to place, depending on the vigilance of
local population control workers.
In 1982 China conducted its first population census since 1964. It
was by far the most thorough and accurate census taken since 1949
and confirmed that China was a nation of more than 1 billion
people, or about one-fifth of the world's population. The census
provided demographers with a set of data on China's age-sex
structure, fertility and mortality rates, and population density
and distribution. Information was also gathered on minority ethnic
groups, urban population, and marital status. For the first time
since the People's Republic of China was founded, demographers had
reliable information on the size and composition of the Chinese
work force. The nation began preparing for the 1982 census in late
1976. Chinese census workers were sent to the United States and
Japan to study modern census-taking techniques and automation.
Computers were installed in every provincial-level unit except
Xizang and were connected to a central processing system in the
Beijing headquarters of the
State Statistical Bureau. Pretests
and smallscale trial runs were conducted and checked for accuracy
between 1980 and 1981 in twenty-four provincial-level units. Census
stations were opened in rural
production brigades and urban
neighborhoods. Beginning 1 July 1982, each household sent a
representative to a census station to be enumerated. The census
required about a month to complete and employed approximately 5
million census takers.
The 1982 census collected data in nineteen demographic categories
relating to individuals and households. The thirteen areas
concerning individuals were name, relationship to head of
household, sex, age, nationality, registration status, educational
level, profession, occupation, status of nonworking persons,
marital status, number of children born and still living, and
number of births in 1981. The six items pertaining to households
were type (domestic or collective), serial number, number of
persons, number of births in 1981, number of deaths in 1981, and
number of registered persons absent for more than one year.
Information was gathered in a number of important areas for which
previous data were either extremely inaccurate or simply
nonexistent, including fertility, marital status, urban population,
minority ethnic groups, sex composition, age distribution, and
employment and unemployment.
A fundamental anomaly in the 1982 statistics was noted by some
Western analysts. They pointed out that although the birth and
death rates recorded by the census and those recorded through the
household registration system were different, the two systems
arrived at similar population totals. The discrepancies in the
vital rates were the result of the underreporting of both births
and deaths to the authorities under the registration system;
families would not report some births because of the one-child
policy and would not report some deaths so as to hold on to the
rations of the deceased.
Nevertheless, the 1982 census was a watershed for both Chinese and
world demographics. After an eighteen-year gap, population
specialists were given a wealth of reliable, up-to-date figures on
which to reconstruct past demographic patterns, measure current
population conditions, and predict future population trends. For
example, Chinese and foreign demographers used the 1982 census
age-sex structure as the base population for forecasting and making
assumptions about future fertility trends. The data on age-specific
fertility and
mortality rates provided the necessary base-line
information for making population projections. The census data also
were useful for estimating future
manpower
potential,
consumer needs, and
utility,
energy, and
health-service requirements. The sudden
abundance of demographic data helped population specialists
immeasurably in their efforts to estimate world population.
Previously, there had been no accurate information on these 21
percent of the Earth's inhabitants. Demographers who had been
conducting research on global population without accurate data on
the Chinese fifth of the world's population were particularly
thankful for the 1982 breakthrough census.
Fertility and mortality
In 1949 crude death rates were probably higher than 30 per 1,000,
and the average life expectancy was only 32 years. Beginning in the
early 1950s,
mortality steadily
declined; it continued to decline through 1978 and remained
relatively constant through 1987. One major fluctuation was
reported in a computer reconstruction of China's population trends
from 1953 to 1987 produced by the
United States Bureau of the
Census. The computer model showed that the crude death rate
increased dramatically during the famine years associated with the
Great Leap Forward
(1958–60).
According to Chinese government statistics, the crude birth rate
followed five distinct patterns from 1949 to 1982. It remained
stable from 1949 to 1954, varied widely from 1955 to 1965,
experienced fluctuations between 1966 and 1969, dropped sharply in
the late 1970s, and increased from 1980 to 1981. Between 1970 and
1980, the crude birth rate dropped from 36.9 per 1,000 to 17.6 per
1,000. The government attributed this dramatic decline in fertility
to the
wan xi shao (later marriages, longer intervals
between births, and fewer children)
birth
control campaign. However, elements of socioeconomic change,
such as increased
employment of women in
both urban and rural areas and reduced
infant mortality (a greater percentage of
surviving children would tend to reduce demand for additional
children), may have played some role. The birth rate increased in
both 1981 and 1982 to a level of 21 per 1,000, primarily as a
result of a marked rise in marriages and first births. The rise was
an indication of problems with the one-child policy of 1979.
Chinese sources, however, indicated that the birth rate decreased
to 17.8 in 1985 and remained relatively constant thereafter.
In urban areas, the housing shortage may have been at least partly
responsible for the decreased birth rate. Also, the policy in force
during most of the 1960s and the early 1970s of sending large
numbers of high school graduates to the countryside deprived cities
of a significant proportion of persons of childbearing age and
undoubtedly had some effect on birth rates (see
Cultural Revolution (1966–76)).
Primarily for economic reasons, rural birth rates tended to decline
less than urban rates. The right to grow and sell agricultural
products for personal profit and the lack of an old-age
welfare system were incentives for rural
people to produce many children, especially sons, for help in the
fields and for support in old age. Because of these conditions, it
is unclear to what degree education had been able to erode
traditional values favoring large families.
Today, the population continues to grow. There is also a serious
gender imbalance. Census data
obtained in 2000 revealed that 119 boys were born for every 100
girls, and among China’s "floating population" the ratio was as
high as 128:100. These situations led the government in July 2004
to ban selective
abortions of female
fetuses. It is estimated that this imbalance will rise until
2025–2030 to reach 20% then slowly decrease.
China now has an increasingly
aging
population; it is projected that 11.8% of the population in 2020
will be 65 years of age and older. Health care has improved
dramatically in China since 1949. Major diseases such as
cholera,
typhoid, and
scarlet fever have been brought under
control.
Life expectancy has more
than doubled, and
infant mortality
has dropped significantly. On the negative side, the incidence of
cancer,
cerebrovascular disease, and
heart disease has increased to the
extent that these have become the leading causes of death. Economic
reforms initiated in the late 1970s fundamentally altered methods
of providing health care; the collective medical care system has
been gradually replaced by a more individual-oriented
approach.
In
Hong
Kong
, the birth rate of 0.9% is lower than its death
rate. Hong Kong's population increases because of
immigration from the mainland and a large
expatriate population comprising about 4%.
Like Hong
Kong, Macau
also has a
low birth rate relying on immigration to maintain its
population.
CIA World Factbook demographic statistics
The following demographic statistics are from the
CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise
indicated.
No statistics have been included for areas
currently governed by the Republic of China
. Unless stated otherwise, statistics refer
only to
mainland China. (See
Demographics of Hong Kong and
Demographics of Macau.)
Population
- Mainland only: 1,338,612,968 (2009)
- Hong Kong: 7,055,071 (2009)
- Macau: 559,846 (2009)
- Total: 1,346,227,885 (2009).
- Population rank: 1 (See List of countries by
population.)
Historical population
- 2100 BCE: 14,000,000
- 2 CE: 60,000,000
- 1000: 40,000,000
- 1500: 103,000,000
- 1650: 123,000,000
- 1750: 260,000,000
- 1850: 412,000,000
- 1950: 552,000,000
- 1960: 648,000,000
- 1970: 820,000,000
- 1975: 924,000,000
- 1980: 984,000,000
- 1990: 1,147,000,000
- 2000: 1,264,587,054
Population projection
- 2000: 1,264,587,054
- 2010: 1,347,000,000
- 2020: 1,430,000,000
- 2030: 1,461,000,000
- 2040: 1,463,144,780
- 2050: 1,465,224,000
Population density
- National average density: 137.0 persons per
km2 (2007)
Urban-rural ratio
- Urban: 42.3% (2007) — 562,000,000
- Rural: 57.7% (2007) — 767,000,000
Age structure
- 0–14 years: 20.4% (male 143,527,634/female
126,607,344) (2007)
- 15–64 years: 71.7% (male 487,079,770/female
460,596,384) (2007)
- 65 years and over: 7.9% (male
49,683,856/female 54,356,900) (2007)
Further breakdown of age distribution
- Under 15: 20.3% (2007)
- 15–29: 22.8% (2007)
- 30–44: 26.7% (2007)
- 45–59: 18.2% (2007)
- 60–74: 9.4% (2007)
- 75–84: 2.3% (2007)
- 85 and over: 0.3% (2007)
Median age
- Total: 33.2 years (2007)
- Male: 32.7 years (20
- Female: 33.7 years (2007)
Population growth rate
- Population growth rate: 0.606% (2007)
- Natural increase rate: 6.06/1,000 population
(2007)
Birth rate
- Birth rate: 13.45 births/1,000 population
(2007)
Death rate
- Death rate: 7 deaths/1,000 population
(2007)
Net migration rate
- Net migration rate: -0.39 migrant(s)/1,000
population (2007)
Sex distribution
- Sex distribution: male 51.53%; female 48.47%
(2007)
Sex ratio
- At birth: 1.11 male(s)/female (2007)
- Under 15 years: 1.134 male(s)/female
(2007)
- 15–64 years: 1.057 male(s)/female (2007)
- 65 years and over: 0.914 male(s)/female
(2007)
- Total population: 1.06 male(s)/female
(2007)
Infant mortality rate
- Total: 22.12 deaths/1,000 live births
(2007)
- Male: 20.01 deaths/1,000 live births
(2007)
- Female: 24.47 deaths/1,000 live births
(2007)
Child mortality
- 415,000 children (under 16) died in China in 2006 (4.3 percent
of the world total)
Life expectancy at birth
- Total population: 72.88 years (2007)
- Male: 71.13 years (2007)
- Female: 74.82 years (2007)
Total fertility rate
- Total fertility rate: 1.75 (avg. births per
woman in childbearing years) (2007)
According to the 2000 census, the TFR was 1.22 (0.86 for cities,
1.08 for towns and 1.43 for villages/outposts).
Beijing had the lowest TFR at 0.67, while Guizhou
had the
highest at 2.19. It should be noted that Xiangyang district of
Jiamusi
city (Heilongjiang
) have a TFR of 0.41, which is the lowest TFR
recorded anywhere in the world in recorded history.
Other
extreme low TFR counties are: 0.43 in the Heping district of
Tianjin city (Tianjin
), and 0.46
in the Mawei district of Fuzhou
city
(Fujian
).
At the
other end TFR was 3.96 in Geji County
(Tibet), 4.07 in Jiali County
(Tibet), and 5.47 in Baqing County
(Tibet).
Marriage and divorce
- Marriage rate: 6.3/1,000 population
(2006)
- Divorce rate: 1.0/1,000 population (2006)
Literacy rate
Age 15 and over can read and write:
- Total population: 90.9% (2000 census)
- Male: 95.1% (2000 census)
- Female: 86.5% (2000 census)
Educational attainment
As of 2000, percentage of population age 15 and over having:
- no schooling and incomplete primary: 15.6%
- completed primary: 35.7%
- some secondary: 34.0%
- complete secondary: 11.1%
- some postsecondary through advanced degree: 3.6%
Religious affiliation
Sources:
Major cities
Only urban population stated (over 1 million people at least), as
of 2005:
- Shanghai 10,030,800
- Beijing 7,699,300
- Tianjin
4,933,100
- Guangzhou
4,653,100
- Wuhan
4,593,400
- Chongqing
4,239,700
- Shenyang
3,995,500
- Nanjing
2,966,000
- Harbin
2,735,100
- Chengdu
2,664,000
- Xi’an
2,657,900
- Jinan
2,346,000
- Changchun
2,283,800
- Dalian 2,181,600
- Hangzhou
2,059,800
- Shijiazhuang
1,971,000
- Taiyuan
1,970,300
- Qingdao
1,930,200
- Zhengzhou
1,770,800
- Kunming
1,597,800
- Lanzhou
1,576,400
- Changsha
1,562,200
- Xiamen
1,532,200.
Households
- Average household size: 3.1
- Total households: 351,233,698
- Of which are family households: 340,491,197 (96.9%)
- Of which are collective households: 10,742,501 (3.1%)
HIV
- See HIV/AIDS in the
People's Republic of China.
- Adult population (ages 15–49) living with HIV: 0.15%
(2008)
- People living with HIV/AIDS: 100,000 (2008)
- HIV/AIDS deaths: 44,000 (2003)
Causes of death
Major
causes of death per 100,000
population, based on 2004 urban population samples:
- malignant neoplasms (cancers): 119.7
- cerebrovascular disease: 88.4
- respiratory diseases: 78.1
- heart diseases: 74.1
- accidents, violence, and poisoning: 43.5
Income
As of 2003, the distribution of urban household income:
- Average per capita disposable
income by quintile: Y 9,061
[U.S.$1,095]
- first quintile: Y 3,285
- second quintile: Y 5,377
- third quintile: Y 7,279
- fourth quintile: Y 9,763
- fifth quintile: Y 17,431
Working life
Quality of working life:
- Average workweek: 40 hours (1998)
- Annual rate per 100,000 workers for: (1997)
- injury or accident: 0.7
- industrial illness: 36
- death: 1.4
- Death toll from work accidents: 127,000 (2005)
- Funds for pensions and social welfare relief: Y 26,668,000,000
(2001)
Access to services
- Percentage of population having access to electricity (2000):
98.6%
- Percentage of total population with safe public water supply
(2002): 83.6% (urban, rural: 94.0%, 73.0%)
- Sewage system (1999): total (urban, rural)
- households with flush apparatus 20.7% (50.0%, 4.3%)
- with pit latrines 69.3% (33.6%, 86.7%)
- with no latrine 5.3% (7.8%, 4.1%)
Social participation
- Eligible voters participating in last national election:
n/a
- Population participating in voluntary work: n/a
- Trade union membership in total labor force (2005): 18%
- Practicing religious population in total affiliated population:
n/a
Social deviance
Annual reported arrest rate per 100,000 population (2006) for:
- Property violation: 20.7
- Infringing personal rights: 7.2
- Disruption of social administration: 3.3
- Endangering public security: 1.010
Material wellbeing
Urban households possessing (number per household; 2003):
- bicycles: 1.4
- color televisions: 1.3
- washing machines: 0.9
- refrigerators: 0.9
- cameras: 0.5
Rural families possessing (number per household; 2003):
- bicycles: 1.2
- color televisions: 0.7
- washing machines: 0.2
- refrigerators: 0.1
- cameras: 0.02
Household income and expenditure
- Average household size (2005) 3.1; rural households 3.3; urban
households 3.0.
- Average annual per capita disposable income of household
(2005): rural households Y 3,255 (U.S.$397), urban households Y
10,493 (U.S.$1,281).
- Sources of income (2003): rural households — income from
household businesses 75.7%, wages 19.1%, transfers 3.7%, other
1.5%; urban households — wages 70.7%, transfers 23.3%, business
income 4.5%, other 1.5%.
- Expenditure: rural (urban) households — food 45.6% (37.1%),
housing 15.9% (10.7%), education and recreation 12.1% (14.4%),
transportation and communications 8.4% (11.1%), clothing 5.7%
(9.8%), medicine and medical service 6.0% (7.1%), household
furnishings 4.2% (6.3%).
Employment
- Population economically active (2003): total 760,800,000.
- Activity rate of total population 58.9% (participation rates:
over age 15 [2001] 77.7%; female [2001] 37.8%; registered
unemployed in urban areas [December 2004] 4.2%).
- Urban employed workforce (2001): 239,400,000; by sector: state
enterprises 76,400,000, collectives 28,130,000, self-employment or
privately run enterprises 134,870,000.
- Rural employed workforce: 490,850,000.
Population control
Initially, China's post-1949 leaders were ideologically disposed to
view a large population as an asset. But the liabilities of a
large, rapidly growing population soon became apparent. For one
year, starting in August 1956, vigorous support was given to the
Ministry of Public Health's mass birth control efforts. These
efforts, however, had little impact on fertility. After the
interval of the
Great Leap
Forward, Chinese leaders again saw rapid population growth as
an obstacle to development, and their interest in
birth control revived. In the early 1960s,
schemes somewhat more muted than during the first campaign,
emphasized the virtues of late
marriage.
Birth control offices were set up in the central government and
some provincial-level governments in 1964. The second campaign was
particularly successful in the cities, where the birth rate was cut
in half during the 1963–66 period. The upheavel of the
Cultural Revolution brought the program
to a halt, however.
In 1972 and 1973 the party mobilized its resources for a nationwide
birth control campaign administered by a group in the
State
Council. Committees to oversee birth control activities were
established at all administrative levels and in various collective
enterprises. This extensive and seemingly effective network covered
both the rural and the urban population. In urban areas public
security headquarters included population control sections. In
rural areas the country's "
barefoot
doctors" distributed information and
contraceptives to
people's commune members. By 1973
Mao Zedong was personally identified with the
family planning movement, signifying a greater leadership
commitment to controlled population growth than ever before. Yet
until several years after Mao's death in 1976, the leadership was
reluctant to put forth directly the rationale that population
control was necessary for
economic
growth and improved
living
standards.
Population growth targets were set for both administrative units
and individual families. In the mid-1970s the maximum recommended
family size was two children in cities and three or four in the
country. Since 1979 the government has advocated a one-child limit
for both rural and urban areas and has generally set a maximum of
two children in special circumstances. As of 1986 the policy for
minority nationalities was two children per couple, three in
special circumstances, and no limit for ethnic groups with very
small populations. The overall goal of the one-child policy was to
keep the total population within 1.2 billion through the year 2000,
on the premise that the
Four
Modernizations program would be of little value if population
growth was not brought under control.
The one-child policy was a highly ambitious population control
program. Like previous programs of the 1960s and 1970s, the
one-child policy employed a combination of public education, social
pressure, and in some cases coercion. The one-child policy was
unique, however, in that it linked reproduction with economic cost
or benefit.
Under the one-child program, a sophisticated system rewarded those
who observed the policy and penalized those who did not. Couples
with only one child were given a "one-child certificate" entitling
them to such benefits as cash bonuses, longer
maternity leave, better
child care, and preferential
housing assignments. In return, they were required to
pledge that they would not have more children. In the countryside,
there was great pressure to adhere to the one-child limit. Because
the rural population accounted for approximately 60 percent of the
total, the effectiveness of the one-child policy in rural areas was
considered the key to the success or failure of the program as a
whole.
In rural areas the day-to-day work of family planning was done by
cadres at the team and brigade levels who were
responsible for women's affairs and by health workers. The women's
team leader made regular household visits to keep track of the
status of each family under her jurisdiction and collected
information on which women were using
contraceptives, the methods used, and which
had become pregnant. She then reported to the brigade women's
leader, who documented the information and took it to a monthly
meeting of the commune birth-planning committee. According to
reports, ceilings or quotas had to be adhered to; to satisfy these
cutoffs, unmarried young people were persuaded to postpone
marriage, couples without children were advised to "wait their
turn," women with unauthorized pregnancies were pressured to have
abortions, and those who already had
children were urged to use
contraception or undergo
sterilization. Couples with more than one
child were exhorted to be sterilized.
The one-child policy enjoyed much greater success in urban than in
rural areas. Even without state intervention, there were compelling
reasons for urban couples to limit the family to a single child.
Raising a child required a significant portion of family
income, and in the cities a child did not become an
economic asset until he or she entered the work force at age
sixteen. Couples with only one child were given preferential
treatment in housing allocation. In addition, because city dwellers
who were employed in state enterprises received pensions after
retirement, the sex of their first child was less important to them
than it was to those in rural areas.
Numerous reports surfaced of coercive measures used to achieve the
desired results of the one-child policy. The alleged methods ranged
from intense psychological pressure to the use of physical force,
including some grisly accounts of forced abortions and infanticide.
Chinese officials admitted that isolated, uncondoned abuses of the
program occurred and that they condemned such acts, but they
insisted that the family planning program was administered on a
voluntary basis using persuasion and economic measures only.
International reaction to the allegations were mixed. The
UN Fund for Population
Activities and the
International
Planned Parenthood Association were generally supportive of
China's family planning program. The
United States
Agency for International Development, however, withdrew US$10
million from the Fund in March 1985 based on allegations that
coercion had been used.
Observers suggested that an accurate assessment of the one-child
program would not be possible until all women who came of
childbearing age in the early 1980s passed their fertile years. As
of 1987 the one-child program had achieved mixed results. In
general, it was very successful in almost all urban areas but less
successful in rural areas.
Rapid fertility reduction associated with the one-child policy has
potentially negative results. For instance, in the future the
elderly might not be able to rely on their children to care for
them as they have in the past, leaving the state to assume the
expense, which could be considerable. Based on United Nations and
Chinese government statistics, it was estimated in 1987 that by the
year 2000 the population 60 years and older (the retirement age is
60 in urban areas) would number 127 million, or 10.1 percent of the
total population; the projection for 2025 was 234 million elderly,
or 16.4 percent. According to projections based on the 1982 census,
if the one-child policy were maintained to the year 2000, 25
percent of China's population would be age 65 or older by the year
2040.
Population density and distribution
- Overall
While
China is the most populated country in the world, its national
population density (137/km2) is not so high, similar to
those of
Switzerland
and the Czech Republic
. The overall
population density of PRC conceals major
regional variations, the western and northern part have a few
million people, while
China proper has
about 1.2 billion. The vast majority of China's population lives in
the fertile plains of the east.
- Coast and China proper
In the 11 provinces, special municipalities, and autonomous regions
along the southeast coast, population density was 320.6 people per
km
2.
Broadly speaking, the population was concentrated in
China Proper, east of the mountains and south
of the
Great Wall.
The most densely
populated areas included the Yangtze River Valley
(of which the delta region was the most populous),
Sichuan
Basin
, North China
Plain, Pearl River
Delta
, and the industrial area around the city of
Shenyang in the northeast.
- Western areas
Population is most sparse in the mountainous, desert, and grassland
regions of the northwest and southwest. In
Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, portions
are completely uninhabited, and only a few sections have
populations denser than ten people per km
2.
The Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, and Tibet autonomous regions and
Qinghai
and Gansu
provinces
comprise 55 percent of the country's land area but in 1985
contained only 5.7 percent of its population.
 A population density map of the PRC
including Taiwan.
The eastern, coastal provinces are much more densely populated
than the western interior.
|
|
|
Area (km²) |
pop |
density |
| China |
9,650,000 (100%) |
1,300,000,000 (100%) |
134.7 h/km² |
| 5 provinces |
5 246 400 km² (54.45%) |
79 533 000 h. (16.345%) |
15.16 h/km² |
|
Inner Mongolia |
1,183,000 (12.28% ) |
24,051,000 |
| Xinjiang |
1,660,000 (17.23%) |
20,952,000 |
| Xizang |
1,228,400 (12.75%) |
2,842,000 |
| Qinghai |
721,000 (7.48%) |
5,516,000 |
| Gansu |
454,000 (4.71%) |
26,172,000 |
| China proper |
4,403,605 (45,55%) |
1,221,000,000 (83,655%) |
277.27 h/km² |
| Source: National Bureau
of Statistics |
|
- Men/Women concern
Future challenges for China will be the gender disparity partially
caused by the preference for boys under the 'one-child' system, and
the aging of the population, with an increasing problem of
young-old disparity. The latter is likely to be tied to the former,
as the lack of sufficient female partners for males coming of age
is expected to reduce total births.
Migration
Urbanization
Ethnic groups
Ethnolinguistic map of the People's
Republic of China and the Republic of China (Taiwan)
The
People's
Republic of China officially recognizes 56 distinct ethnic groups,
the largest of which are Han, who
constitute about 91.9% of the total population. Ethnic
minorities constitute 8.1% or 107.1 million of China's population.
Large ethnic minorities include the
Zhuang (16 million or 1.30%),
Manchu (10 million or 0.86%),
Uyghur (9 million or 0.79%),
Hui (9 million or 0.79%),
Miao (8 million or 0.72%),
Yi (7 million or 0.65%),
Tujia (5.75 million or 0.62%),
Mongols (5 million or 0.47%),
Tibetan (5 million or 0.44%),
Buyi (3 million or 0.26%), and
Korean (2 million or 0.15%).
Ethnic minorities currently experience higher growth rates than the
majority
Han population. Their
proportion of the population in China has grown from 6.1% in 1953,
to 8.04% in 1990, 8.41% in 2000 and 9.44% in 2005. Recent surveys
indicate that the population growth rate for ethnic minorities is
about 7 times greater than that for the Han population.
Neither Hong Kong nor Macau recognizes the official ethnic
classifications maintained by the central government. In Macau the
largest substantial ethnic groups of non-Chinese descent are the
Macanese, of mixed Chinese and
Portuguese descent, as well as migrants from the Philippines and
Thailand. Overseas Filipinas working as domestic workers comprise
the largest non-Chinese ethnic group in Hong Kong.
Languages
The official spoken standard in the People's Republic of China is
Putonghua. Its pronunciation is based on
the
Beijing dialect of
Mandarin
Other
languages and dialects include other Mandarin dialects, and Wu (Shanghainese),
Yue (Cantonese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien or Taiwanese, Teochiu), Xiang, Gan and
Hakka, as well as languages of the
minorities.
The seven major mutually unintelligible Chinese
dialects,
which are considered by some to be different languages of the
Chinese language family, and by some others to be dialects of the
Chinese language. Each of these
dialects has many
sub-dialects. Over 70% of the Han ethnic group are native
speakers of the Mandarin group of dialects spoken in northern and
southwestern China. The rest, concentrated in south and southeast
China, speak one of the six other major Chinese dialects. In
addition to the local dialect, nearly all also speak Standard
Chinese or Mandarin (
Putonghua), which
pronunciation is based on the Beijing dialect, which inself is one
of the Mandarin group of dialects, and is the language of
instruction in all schools and is used for formal and official
purposes.
Non-Chinese languages spoken widely by ethnic minorities include
Mongolian, Tibetan, Uyghur and other Turkic languages (in
Xinjiang), Korean (in the northeast), and Vietnamese (in the
southeast).
In addition to Chinese, in the special administrative regions,
English is an official language of Hong Kong and Portuguese is an
official language of Macau.
Patuá is a Portuguese creole spoken
by a small number of
Macanese.
English, though not official, is widely used in Macau. In both of
the special administrative regions, the dominant spoken form of
Chinese is Cantonese.
For written Chinese, the PRC officially uses
simplified Chinese characters
in mainland China, while
traditional Chinese
characters are used in Hong Kong and Macau.
The
de-facto spoken standard in Hong Kong and Macao
is Yue
(Cantonese), although officially
it is the Chinese language, not
specifying, which spoken form is standard. The written official
standard in Hong
Kong and Macao is in
Standard Mandarin in traditional Chinese
characters.
On 1 January 1979, the PRC Government officially adopted the
hanyu pinyin system for spelling
Chinese names and places in mainland China in
Roman letters. A system of romanization
invented by the Chinese, pinyin has long been widely used in
mainland China on street and commercial signs as well as in
elementary Chinese textbooks as an aid in learning Chinese
characters. Variations of pinyin also are used as the written forms
of several minority languages.
Pinyin replaced other conventional spellings
in mainland China's
English-language publications. The
U.S. Government and
United Nations also adopted the pinyin system
for all names of people and places in mainland China. For example,
the capital of the PRC is spelled "Beijing" rather than
"Peking".
Religions
The
Chinese
Communist Government has implemented
state atheism since 1949, which makes it
difficult to ascertain data on the religious population figures.
Thus making the relation between Government and religions was not
smooth in the past. But in fact, the people are still holding
private worship of traditional religions (Buddhism/Taoism) at home.
In recent years, the Chinese government has opened up to religion,
especially traditional religions such as Mahayana Buddhism, Taoism
and Confucianism because the Government also continued to emphasize
the role of religion in building a "Harmonious Society," which was
a positive development with regard to the Government's respect for
religious freedom.
According to the old Chinese government estimate, there were "over
100 million followers of various faiths" in China. Other estimates
put about 100 million or about 8% Chinese who follow Buddhism, with
the second largest religion as Taoism (no data), Islam (19 million
or 1.5%) and Christianity (14 million or 1%; 4 million Roman
Catholics and 10 million Protestants). According to the 1993
edition of The Atlas of Religion, the number of atheists in China
is between 10 and 14 percent.
Additionally, the BBC reported in February 2007 that "a poll of
4,500 people by Shanghai university professors found 31.4% of
people above the age of 16 considered themselves as religious", a
figure that represents 300 million people. Among those surveyed,
about 2/3 were "Buddhists, Taoists or worshipers of legendary
figures such as the Dragon King and God of Fortune." Other
religions represented significantly in that survey were
Christianity (40 million) and Islam. China is also known to have
small numbers of people who follow Hinduism, Dongbaism, Bon and a
number of new religions and sects (particularly Xiantianism and
Falun Gong). The official
China Daily called the Shanghai
professors' research "the country's first major survey on religious
beliefs". The Chinese government have accepted these new numbers.
The wide disparity among these estimates underscores the difficulty
of accurately surveying the religious view of a nation of over a
billion people and the lack of reliable data.
However, some surveys suggest that the cultural adherents or even
outright religious adherents of Buddhism could number as high as
50% to 80% of the population, or about 660 million to over 1
billion. Some estimates for Taoism as high as 400 million or about
30% of the total population, but
Adherents.com argues that these are actually
numbers for
Chinese folk
religion or
Chinese
traditional religion, not Confucianism and Taoism
themselves.
The number of adherents to these religions can be overlaid in
percentage due to the fact that mostly
Chinese consider themselves both Buddhist and
Taoist. However, it was difficult to estimate accurately the number
of Buddhists because they did not have congregational memberships
and often did not participate in public ceremonies.
The minority religions are
Christianity
(between 40 million, 3%, and 54 million, 4%),
Islam (20 million, 1.5%),
Hinduism,
Dongbaism,
Bon and a number of
new religions and sects
(particularly
Xiantianism and
Falun Gong).
According to the surveys of Phil Zuckerman on
Adherents.com; in 1993, 59% (over 700 million)
of the Chinese population was
irreligious but in the newest survey (same
author) in 2005, it was only 14% (over 180 million).. There are
intrinsic logistical difficulties in trying to count the number of
religious people anywhere, as well as difficulties peculiar to
China. According to Phil Zuckerman, "low response rates,"
"non-random samples," and "adverse political/cultural climates" are
all persistent problems in establishing accurate numbers of
religious believers in a given locality. Similar difficulties arise
in attempting to subdivide religious people into sects. These
issues are especially pertinent in China for two reasons. First, it
is a matter of current debate whether several important belief
systems in China constitute "religions." As Daniel L. Overmeyer
writes, in recent years there has been a "new appreciation...of the
religious dimensions of
Confucianism,
both in its ritual activities and in the inward search for an
ultimate source of moral order". Many Chinese belief systems have
concepts of a sacred and sometimes spiritual natural world yet do
not always invoke a concept of
personal
god (with the exception of
Heaven
worship).
The
constitution
affirms religious toleration subject to several important
restrictions. The government places limits on religious practice
outside officially recognized organizations.
Only two Christian
organizations, a Catholic church without ties to the Holy See in Rome
and the
"Three-Self-Patriotic"
Protestant church, are sanctioned by the PRC Government.
Unauthorized churches have sprung up in many parts of the country,
and unofficial religious practice is flourishing. In some regions
authorities have tried to control activities of these unregistered
churches. In other regions registered and unregistered groups are
treated similarly by authorities, and congregates worship in both
types of churches. On 20 July 1999, the
Chinese
authorities banned and initiated a
crackdown on
Falun Gong in
mainland
China.
The
Basic Law of Hong Kong
protects
freedom of religion as
a fundamental right. There are a large variety of religious groups
in the Hong Kong:
Buddhism,
Taoism,
Confucianism,
Christianity including
Catholicism,
Islam,
Hinduism,
Sikhism
and
Judaism all have a considerable number
of adherents.
The
Macau Basic Law similarly
recognizes freedom of religion though the Religious Freedom
Ordinance requires registration of religious organizations. The
major religions practiced in Macau are Buddhism and traditional
beliefs with a smaller minority claiming no religious belief. A
small minority of Christians, mostly Catholic, exists.
See also
References
- Pascal Rocha da Silva, La politique de l'enfant
unique en République populaire de Chine, p. 116, cf.
- Is China's Population Really 1,3 Billion ?
- Population in China
- NY Inquirer: China's 21st Century
- China to conduct 6th population census in
2010
- Pascal Rocha da Silva, Projection de la population
chinoise 2000-2050, p. 9, cf.
- Taipei Times - archives
- FERTILITY IN CHINA IN 2000: A COUNTY LEVEL
ANALYSIS
- CIA Factbook - China
- Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs — Background
Note: China
- Chinese Religions
- Travel China Guide
- Han Chinese people
- China - Religion
- Communiqué on Major Data of 1% National Population
Sample Survey in 2005
- CIA - The World Factbook: China
- U.S. Department of States: International Religious
Freedom Report 2007 — China (includes Tibet, Hong Kong, and
Macau)
- Religious beliefs
- China in Brief - china.org.cn
- O'Brien, Joanne, and Palmer, Martin. "The Atlas of Religion".
University of California Press (Berkely, 1993) in Zuckerman, pg.
53
- BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Survey finds 300m China
believers
- "Religious Believers Thrice The Official Estimate Poll". China
Daily, 7 February 2007. Chinadaily.com.cn
- Buddhists in the world
- SEANET Work - "Counting the Buddhist World Fairly,"
by Dr. Alex Smith
- Asia Sentinel - How Now Tao?
- Adherents.com — Major Religions Ranked by Size
- Religions and Beliefs in China
- SACU Religion in China
- Index-China Chinese Philosophies and
religions
- The Diaspora Han Chinese
- U.S. Department of States — International Religious
Freedom Report 2006: China (includes Tibet, Hong Kong, and
Macau)
- China Survey Reveals Fewer Christians than Some
Evangelicals Want to Believe
- Adherents.com
- Adherents.com
- Top 50 Countries With Highest Proportion of
Atheists / Agnostics (Zuckerman, 2005)
- Zuckerman, Phil. "Atheism: Contemporary Numbers and Patterns".
In Martin, Michael "The Cambridge Companion to Atheism". (New York:
Cambridge University Press) 2006. pg. 47
- Overmeyer, Daniel L. et al. "Introduction". The Journal of
Asian Studies, Vol. 54, No. 2 (May, 1995). pp. 314–321
- Ethel R. Nelson, Richard E. Broadberry, and Ginger Tong Chock.
God's Promise to the Chinese. p 8. ISBN 0-937869-01-5.
- Xinhua, China Bans Falun Gong, People's Daily, 22 July
1999
[3757]
- China, CIA World Factbook
External links
Top topics
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Search
