'China's population to stay above 1.4bn for a certain period'
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China's population will stay above 1.4 billion "for a certain period in future", Ning Jizhe, head of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), said on Tuesday. "China's population will peak in future, but there remains uncertainty as to when specifically it will happen," Ning said. Based on the demographical trend in recent years, China's population growth will continue to slow down, Xinhua news agency quoted the NBS chief as saying at a media briefing here.
He noted that the growth will also be affected by such factors as the age structure, people's ideas on having children, government's population policies, the cost of childbearing and parenting, medical service and health conditions of the people. China's population on the mainland reached 1.4 billion, growing 0.53 per cent annually on average in the past decade, according to data from the latest national census, conducted in 2020, released by the NBS on Tuesday. The rate was slightly lower than the average annual growth of 0.57 per cent from 2000 to 2010, according to the NBS. "Data shows that China's population has continued to maintain slow growth in the past decade," Ning said.
The NBS data also revealed that people aged 60 or above account for 18.7 per cent of China's total population, 5.44 percentage points higher than the level in 2010 when the previous census was conducted.
The total population of Chinese people on the mainland aged 60 or above has reached 264.02 million, including 190.64 million people aged 65 or above, or 13.5 per cent of the total population, it added.
"Data shows the aging of the Chinese population has further deepened, and we will continue to face the pressure to achieve long-term balanced population development," Ning said.
The census also found 63.35 per cent of the country's population was aged 15-59, and the proportion of Chinese people aged 0-14 reaches 17.95 per cent, 1.35 percentage points higher than the 2010 level.
China has conducted a national population census every 10 years since the 1990s.
The figure does not include Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan residents and foreigners who live in the mainland's 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities, according to the NBS.