Population

At the end of 2003, Gansu had a total population of some 26,033,400. The population grew by 6.12 percent in 2003.

The year saw 327,200 births, with a crude birth rate of 12.58 per thousand (down 0.058 percent on the previous year) and a crude death rate of 6.46 per thousand (up just 0.001 percent).

Natural population growth was 159,200 in the year representing a growth rate of 6.12 per thousand (down 0.059 percent). About 51.75 percent of the population or 13,472,300 were male while there were 12,561,100 female.

There were 6,224,600 persons in the age group 0-14, accounting for 23.91 percent of the total population (down 1.04 percent). There were 18,239,000 in the age group 15-64, accounting for 70.06 percent (up 0.75 percent). There were 1,569,800 in the age group 65 and over, accounting for 6.03 percent (up 0.29 percent).

There were 7,127,900 urban residents, accounting for 27.38 percent of the total population (up 1.42 percent) and 18,905,500 rural residents, accounting for 72.62 percent.

Ethnicity

Gansu is home to some 20.52 million Han people (91.7 percent of the population) together with 1.86 million people of ethnic minority groups (8.3 percent). Those minority groups with a population of more than 1,000 are the Hui, Tibetan, Dongxiang, Tu, Manchu, Yugur, Bonan, Mongolian, Salar, and Kazak.

Education

In 2003, general universities in the province enrolled some 173,400 undergraduates (up 21.26 percent on the previous year) including 60,100 new entrants (up 13.18 percent). Meanwhile the universities and research institutes enrolled 8,600 graduate students (up 43.33 percent) including 3,600 new entrants (up 20 percent).

General senior secondary schools enrolled 427,000 students (up 23.41 percent) including 168,200 new entrants (up 16.81 percent). The various secondary vocational and technical schools enrolled 49,500 students (down 12.39 percent) including 19,200 new entrants (down 16.52 percent).

Junior secondary schools enrolled 1,306,000 students (up 3.63 percent) including 453,100 new entrants (up 1.36 percent).

Primary schools enrolled 3,227,600 students (down 0.06 percent) including 572,300 new entrants (down 6.16 percent). Special education schools enrolled 7,673 students including 975 new entrants. 372,200 kids went to kindergarten.