China's one-child policy has helped the country cut more than 400 million births since its introduction in the late 1970s, the country's top population commissioner said yesterday.

The policy was effective in boosting economic development and improving people's lives, Zhang Weiqing, director of the National Population and Family Planning Commission, said while addressing an international seminar on population and development in Beijing.

Zhang said enforcement of the one-child policy and opening to the outside world in the late 1970s allowed China to develop its rapidly growing economy.

During the last thirty years, the nation recorded a gross domestic product that grew 9.6 percent on average each year. China's GDP totaled US$2.23 trillion by the end of last year.

The policies also enabled the country to rein in excessive population increases, Zhang said, adding that population-related issues will further challenge the nation.

China's per capita GDP, which hit US$1,700 last year, still ranked less than 100th in the world.

A rising population, an unbalanced gender proportion of newborn babies, the expanding age gap and a large migrant population are among the problem the country will have to address, Zhang noted.

Wang Guoqiang, the commission's deputy director, said China's population will increase annually by eight million to ten million over the next decade.

According to earlier media reports, China's population will peak in the 2030s at 1.46 billion. The number of people above 60 is expected to reach 174 million by 2010, accounting for 12.78 percent of the total.

Besides, the number of people aged from 15 to 64, or those able to work, will rise to 940 million by 2020, accounting for about 65 percent of the total, bringing more employment pressure.

(Shanghai Daily November 9, 2006)