Rapid population growth in China has been kept under control during the 1996-2000 period, in which population pressure on the country's social and economic developments was eased, and living standards improved.

China has become a country with a low birth rate since implementing the family planning policy in the 1970s. Without family planning, an extra 338 million people would have been born in the country during this period, costing an extra 7,000 billion yuan (approximately US$843 million) in child-care.

Statistics in 1998 showed that on average a Chinese woman had less than two children in her lifetime, compared with four in 1970.

As a result of the low birth rate, the adult population is beginning to account for a larger percent of the country's total population. Slower population growth has provided a better environment for economic development and social progress. In 1998, per capita Gross National Product in China doubled the figure of 1980 three years ahead of expectations.

Population control in China has also helped delay the world's six billion population figure for a further four years.

(Xinhua 09/25/2000)