Hubei |
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I. Basic Data |
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Name: Hubei Province Area: 185,900 square kilometers Population: 60.28 million (2000 population census) Capital: Wuhan Geography: Hubei Province is located at the mid-stream point of China's biggest river, the Yangtze River. The name Hubei was given because it is north of Dongting Lake. North of Hubei is Henan, east is Anhui, south is Hunan and Jiangxi, west is Sichuan and northwest is Shanxi. It is situated between 108°21'-116°07' east longitude and 29°25 - 33°21' north latitude. It is a central zone in China for crossing from the east to west and connecting from the south to north. Natural Resources: Hubei is very rich in natural resources. It possesses an advantageous position in land, water, biotic, mineral and energy resources in China. Water resources rank as China's fourth largest and the volume of surface water ranks tenth. A total the 131 kinds of minerals have been found in the whole province: among them phosphorus, limestone, garnet and marl are in first place, and iron, copper, gypsum, halite, gold, mercury, manganese, vanadium and nickel are in seventh place. Various kinds of biotic resources and more than 3,000 kinds of animal and plant resources have been found. Shennongjia is located in the high mountains and lofty hills in the northwest of the province and is the only tract of primary forest in the east of China and the forest coverage rate is 70%. There are 1,747 kinds of wild animals (among them more than 20 kinds are listed for protection as rare animals in China). Economy: In 2000, the favorable situation of high growth and low inflation emerged in Hubei's economy. GDP reached 427.632 billion Yuan, 9.3% increased than 1999, which exceeded the planned target and was 1.3% higher than the average increase for the whole country. The situation of financial income was good, reaching 21.435 billion Yuan. Also, a good harvest was achieved in agriculture; grain production was 22.185 million tons. Industrial production increased constantly and rapidly, and the economic benefits tended to rebound. The gross output value of industry and agriculture reached 343.697 billion Yuan, the average GDP per person for the whole province was 7,188 Yuan. The total value of imported and exported commodities was US$3.210 billion. Main problems:
People's life: On the basis of statistics at the end of 2000, the number employed was 33.849 million. The total amount of salaries for the staff and workers of the whole province reached 40.534 billion Yuan, the average per person income of peasants was 2,930 Yuan and the average wage of staff and workers was 7,565 Yuan. The average consumption level of the inhabitants was 2,857 Yuan: for people in the rural areas, it was 1,760 Yuan and in cities and towns 5,719 Yuan. In 2000, Hubei has 11,065 hospitals and clinics, 301,400 medical technicians (1.74 doctors per 1,000) and 149,600 sickbeds (2.18 beds per 1,000). Due to the rapid development of the productive force, the living standard of the people has constantly improved. Serious attention should be paid that, despite the fact that the rapid growth of the population provided a sufficient labor force for economic construction, it also produced great pressure on the accumulation of funds, consumption, traffic, housing and employment. The effective control of the population and constant improvement of the people's living standard were two closely related problems. Education: On the basis of statistics at the end of 2000, Hubei had 54 schools of higher learning, with 30,363 teachers and 346,568 students. It had 203 special secondary schools, with 15,549 teachers and 278,602 students. There were 3,261 ordinary middle schools, with 198,486 teachers and 3,509,318 students and 23,372 primary schools, with 274,979 teachers and 6,677,422 pupils. In a word, the cultural composition of the population in Hubei developed to a higher level, which was most sharply manifested in the number of university students (increasing several fold) and the increasing proportion of the educated population. This was the result of paying attention to the educational development, the full understanding of the people regarding the effect of scientific, technical and cultural knowledge for increasing the productive forces. It was also the result of the reform and the opening up of the county to the outside world. With development in various fields of the social economy, new demands have been put on efforts to improve the educational quality of the population. |
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II. Population Situation |
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Size and Distribution According to the 2000 population census, the total population of Hubei was 60.28 million. Population density was 324/sq. km. Population density was significant and distribution of the population had four outstanding characteristics:
Review of population development history The population development process since the founding of the new China could be divided into five stages: The first stage (1949 - 1958) was characterized by the first birth peak period in Hubei since the founding of the People's Republic, an increase of 5.6453 million people in nine years, the average growth per year being 627,300 and the average annual growth rate 2.22%. The second stage (1959-1961) was a slow population growth period, with an increase of 374,900 in three years, the average growth per year being 125,000 and the annual growth rate was 0.40%. The third stage (1962 - 1971) was the second birth peak period, with an increase of 9.4889 million in 10 years, the average growth per year being 949,000 and the annual growth rate 2.64%. The fourth stage (1972 - 1985) was the period moving from blind development to planned control; in 14 years, an increase of 7.9902 million; the average growth per year was 570,700 and the average annual growth rate was 1.27%. In the fifth stage (1986 - 1990), the population of the whole province increased from 49.3097 million in 1985 to 53.9705 million in 1990, an increase of 4.6608 million in five years, with the average growth per year being 932,200 and the average annual growth rate 1.82%. It could be seen from the above population development process that after the founding of new China, the fluctuations at various stages in terms of the changes in the total population of Hubei were wide, mainly being manifested in the non-planned (1959 - 1971) and planned (1972 - 1990) period of population development. If calculated according to the birth rate (29 per 1,000) in 1997, there were 8 million fewer births in the whole province in the 20 years from 1971 to 1990, which shows the tremendous achievements made by Hubei in terms of family planning work. Population Structure by Sex and Age. After the founding of the People's Republic, the total population ratio in most of the ensuing years remained at about 105 - 106, so the sex ratio was stable and normal. At the first population census in 1953, the sex ratio was 106.49; at the second population census in 1964, it was 105.51; at the third population census in 1982, it was 105.54, and at the fourth population census in 1990, it was 106.45. The differences in the sex ratio at the time of these four population censuses were no more than 1%. But at the fifth population census in 2000, the sex ratio was 108.59. It was higher than normal. The gaps in the population sex ratio between the urban and rural areas and among regions existed; also there were some differences in the sex ratio by age, the sex ratio of babies and infants was a bit high and the sex ratio of the aged population rose. The number of people in the age group 0 - 14 was 13.79 million and accounted 22.87% to total population, 42.69 million in the age group of 15 - 64 and 70.82% to total, and 3.80 million at the age of 65+ and 6.31% to total. Fertility Level and Changes Hubei was one of China's provinces having a concentrated population. It also experienced the process of going from "blind" to planned births. There were 1.3215 million births from 1 July 1989 to 30 June 1990; the birth rate was 24.70 per 1,000 and it was 3.50 per 1,000, or the average level of the whole country. After the founding of the People's Republic, there were two birth peaks and busts in terms of changes in the birth rate, the first birth peak being from 1954 to 1958 when the birth rate reached 30.08 per 1,000. The second birth peak was from 1962 to 1971, with the birth rate reaching 34.53 per 1,000. The bust of population growth was in the period of three consecutive years of natural calamities from 1959 to 1961 when the birth rate dropped to 23.31 per 1,000. Population development moved forward from the time of serious loss of control to the orbit of planned births from 1972 to 1984 when the birth rate dropped to 20.87 per 1,000. In 1997 the birth rate was 14.81 per 1,000 and the natural increase rate was 8.12 per 1,000 in 1997. But due to the influence of the population born in the second birth peak, the birth rate still reached 24.70 per 1,000 in 1990. At present, Hubei is in the third birth peak and the population control work needs to be further strengthened. In 2000, the birth rate was 9.71 per 1,000 and natural growth rate was 3.70 per 1,000. Mortality and Life Expectancy The mortality rate was 7.76 per 1,000 in 1981, 6.90 per 1,000 in 1990, 6.69 per 1,000 in 1997, and 6.01 per 1,000 in 2000, trending downwards. The average life expectancy of the male population at age zero was 66.14 years in 1990, i.e. 2.29 years higher than 63.98 in 1981. The average life expectancy of the female population was 69.72 years, i.e. 2.54 years higher than the 76.18 years in 1981. The increase in life expectancy for the female population was faster than for males. The average life expectancy of the total population increased 0.25 year on average annually. Marriage Status, Family Size and Type Data from the fourth population census in 1990 showed that the number of persons aged 15 and above was 38.6138 million; there were 9.3923 million persons unmarried, accounting for 24.32% of the total, 26.5218 million with spouses accounting for 68.68%, 2.4860 million widowed accounting for 6.44%, and 213,700 divorced accounting for 0.56% of the total. Compared with the third population census in 1982, the proportion unmarried dropped to 4.98%, and the proportion with spouses rose to 6.13%, the proportion widowed dropped to 1.08% and the proportion divorced rose to 0.08%. There were 43.386 million people aged 15 or above in 1997: 22.01 million males and 21.375 million females. Of that total, unmarried males numbered 4.79 million, and females 2.961 million; males in their first marriage with spouses numbered 15.809 million and females 16.261 million. Remarried males with spouses numbered 341,000 and females 375,000; divorced males totaled 215,000 and females 91,000, with widowers numbering 856,000 and widows 1.687 million. It could be seen from the comparative results of the third and fourth population censuses that the average family size was 4.01 persons in 1990, or 0.52 less than in 1982. The proportions of one-generation family, and those with two or three generations were 11.73%, 65.25% and 23.02% respectively in 1982; and 10.38%, 68.15% and 21.47% in 1990. The proportion of families with three generations and one generation declined, and the proportion of families with two generations went up. The proportion of families with one and two generations was larger in the urban than rural areas. In 1990, the average size of family households was 4.01, but in 2000, it was 3.51, down 0.50. Aging of the Population The total aged population increased significantly. There were 3.8129 million persons aged 60 and above in the third population census in 1982; the number in this age group increased to 4.4978 million in the 1990 census, or an increase of 684,900 in eight years, or 17.96% in percentage terms. Among the 4.4978 million elderly, those in the low age group (60 - 79) years old totaled 4.2323 million, accounting for 94.10% of the total; the aged people in the high age group (80 - 99) totaled 265,200 accounting for 5.90% of the total. The aged people in the super-high age group (100 and above) totaled 208 in 1990, an increase of 1.29 times over the 91 counted in 1982. There were differences in population aging between the urban and rural areas and among regions. With the development of a commodity economy and increases in the floating population, most of them were young and middle aged people who moved from the rural areas to cities and towns, making the proportion of the aged population larger in the rural areas. The unmarried proportion of the aged population was low, whereas that of widows was high with the rate being highest among aged females. With increases in the age of the aged population, the proportion divorced decreased. There were 814,100 employed old people at the age of 60 and above in 1982, 1.3019 million in 1990, a 487,800 increase in eight years, or a 59.92% increase. Among those 1.3019 million people, 977,500 were males, accounting for 75.08% of the total; 324,400 were females, accounting for 24.92% of the total. There were obvious gaps in the elderly employed between the urban and rural areas and among industries. Most of the employed aged people were engaged in primary industry (agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fisheries), then in tertiary industry and rarely in secondary industry. At the fourth population census in 1990, the population at the age of 0 - 14 was 28.45% to total population, 15 - 64 was 66.05% and 65 and above was 5.50%. At the fifth population census in 2000, they were 22.87%, 70.82% and 6.31%, respectively. Population Quality According to the fourth population census in 1990 there were 46.7701 million people aged six and above accounting for 86.66% of the total population, of which 37.4793 million had more than a middle or primary school education level, accounting for 69.44% of the total population, and 80.14% of the population at the age of six and above. Of the population with an education, 844,900 people received a university (including college) education, accounting for 2.25% of the total; 4.7853 million received a senior middle school (including specialized secondary school) education, accounting for 12.78% of the total; 12.4975 million received a junior middle school education accounting for 33.35% of the total and 19.3516 million received a primary school education accounting for 51.63% of the total. The population receiving a primary school and above education accounted for 80.28% of the total in 1997, a 2.44% increase over what it was in 1996. There were 54.705 million people aged six and above; of that number, the numbers receiving college and above education, senior and junior middle school, and primary school education were 1.854 million, 6.333 million, 17 million and 22.732 million respectively. There were 6.786 million illiterates and semi-illiterates. The educational level of the male population was notably higher than that of the female population, but with the development of China's social economy, the gap in the educational level between males and females has been gradually narrowed. In 2000, there were 57.10 million people aged 6 and above, of that number, the population receiving junior college and above education was 2.35 million and accounted 4.12% to age 6 and above, senior secondary/secondary technical school, junior secondary school, and primary school education were 7.59 million and 13.30%, 20.68 million and 36.22%, and 21.35 million and 37.39% respectively. In 1990, the illiterate population was 8.52 million, but in 2000 it was 4.31 million. The illiterate rate was 15.79% in 1990 and 7.15% in 2000, down 8.64%. Migration and the Floating Population Hubei was one of the regions with active population migration and it was also an important region for in-migration. In the 37 years from 1954 to 1990, the total number of migrants was 59.3223 million, the total migration rate was 39.2 per 1,000; 30.5901 million in-migrated with the in-migration rate being 20.21 per 1,000. As for those who migrated out of the province, they numbered 28.7322 million, which produced an out-migration rate of 18.99 per 1,000. The net in-migration population was 1.8579 million and the net in-migration rate was 1.22 per 1,000. The period from 1982 to 1990 saw constant deepening of reforms and opening up to the outside world. The average number of migrants annually was 1.8063 million, equal to 116% of the average migrants per year in 37 years. The migrants moved mainly to the urban areas and a few to the rural areas. The main reasons for the migration were: work transfer, assignment and employment, engagement in industry and trade, study and training, living with relatives and friends, resignation and retirement, family members who followed the migrants, in-migration due to marriage and so on. In comparing the floating population in 1990 with that of 1982, the increasing range was above 5%. The floating population was mainly an agricultural population moving to cities, and they were engaged mainly in industry and trade (accounting for about 60% of the total). Population, Resources and the Environment Hubei is a province with a large population and small land base, the average areas of arable land and forest per person were 0.97 mu and 1.33 mu (15 mu = 1 hectare) respectively in 1990 (the average arable land per person was 2.16 mu). The present situation and trend with regard to increased population and decreased land put great pressure on the limited arable land. The soil has suffered numerous incidents of erosion, illegal reclamation, the felling of trees and over-grazing; water losses and soil erosion were also serious. The contradiction between the supply of and demand for water and energy resources was further intensified due to the constant growth of the population. With the rapid growth of the population, the atmospheric, wasted water, flotsam and jetsam and noise pollution were growing more serious day by day. The polluted environment again affected normal production and living activities and the health of the people. The rapid growth of the population especially caused constant expansion of demand for natural resources. The natural ecology was seriously worsened and it caused a restricted effect that had an impact on the survival of the people. Great attention was paid to environmental protection in 1997.The necessary monitoring of water quality and harnessing of big rivers were carried out and enterprises that seriously polluted the environment were closed, stopped and banned in a limited period in order to maintain the harmonious development of the economy, society and the environment. |
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III. Family Planning |
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After the founding of the new China, family planing work underwent roughly four development periods: From blind population development to the start of publicizing family planning (1956 - 1961) From 1949 to 1953, the population increased in four years by 2.2606 million at the average annual rate of 2.21%. It was the first peak period in population development from 1956 to 1958. The total population increased from 28.967 million to 31.467 million and the average annual rate of increase was 2.80%. Chinese leaders Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai both issued important instructions on practicing family planning from 1956 to 1957. From then on the publicity and public health departments of the whole province started to publicize family planning among the masses. But starting from 1958, due to the influence of the "left" deviationist error plus serious natural calamities from 1959 to 1961, family planning work was put aside. The rise and setbacks of family planning work (1962 - 1970) The economy in Hubei was restored rapidly in 1962. The speed of population growth was very fast, with the birth rate reaching 42.52 per 1,000 and the natural increase rate reaching 33.75 per 1,000. The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and the State Council issued "Instructions on earnestly advocating family planning" in 1962. In October the same year the Hubei Provincial Committee set up a leading group for family planning. On 25 October 1963, the Provincial Committee issued "Opinions on further development of family planning drafted by the Provincial Family Planning Leading Group approved by the Provincial Committee and Provincial People's Committee", and regulations on family planning policy were made. In 1965, the family planning work was carried out in succession in urban and rural areas. At that time, the emphasis was on the cities and densely populated areas and mainly on grasping publicity and education, and fostering and setting good examples. The Family Planning Leading Groups were set up one by one in prefectures, municipalities and counties. After the start of the "Cultural Revolution", the family planning work suffered disturbance and sabotage; control of population growth lost status and this caused the second birth peak starting from 1962 and lasting for more than 12 years. The total number of births in the whole province was 14.8254 million in the 12 years from 1962 to 1973. The total population increased from 31.8296 million in early 1962 to 42.1566 million by the end of 1972, and the average annual progressive increase rate was 23.69 per 1,000. Energetic development of family planning work (1971 - 1978) In July 1971, the State Council approved the "Report on doing the family planning work well" drafted jointly by the Ministries of Public Health, Commerce and Fuel Chemical Industry. Soon afterwards, Hubei Province issued a document on the family planning work and arranged the work in prefectures, municipalities and counties. On 11 August in the same year, the decision was made to set up family planning leading groups. In October the same year, a meeting on the provincial family planning work, with all county leaders' participation, requested that the family planning work be done well and that late marriage of youths be encouraged along with an absolute policy of births - "one was not too few, two were just enough and three were too many". Starting from 1973, population development was brought into the provincial planning process. In 1974, the natural increase rate dropped to 14.36 per 1,000 in Hubei, thus fulfilling one year in advance the demands for a population growth rate of no more than 15 per 1,000 put forward by the state during the Fourth Five Year Plan period. Starting from the early 1970s, the work on family planning, late marriage and late birth had laid certain foundation among the broad masses. New period of development for family planning work (1979 - 1993) Since the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Conference of the Chinese Communist Party, family planning was included in the basic state policy of China. Consciousness about grasping the importance of family planning work was constantly raised and this led family planning work to enter into a new period: (a) The provincial level adopted some important measures on family planning work. (b) The provincial family planning policy was gradually perfected and enriched. (c) The responsibility system on population and family planning program management by objectives was exercised. (d) The family planning structure was gradually perfected and the family planning work contingent constantly developed. Through joint efforts of leaders and family planning workers at all levels and the work of the broad masses, Hubei obtained the following outstanding achievements in family planning work: The reproductive concepts of the masses were changed. By the end of 1993, there were 1.6136 million couples who volunteered to have only one child in their life-time. There were also a big batch of families who met the terms for having a second child but positively gave up the privilege. The average age of first marriages of women of child-bearing age was gradually raised. According to a nationwide 1 per 1,000 sample survey concerning the fertility rate in 1982, the average age for first marriages of child-bearing age women was 18.04 years in the 1950s, 19.21 in the 1960s, 21.56 in the 1970s and 22.30 in the 1980s. The fertility level dropped on a large scale. The total fertility rate in the province was 7.63 children per woman in 1962, 6.04 in 1970, 2.50 in 1979 and 2.10 in 1993.. The birth rate and natural increase rate dramatically decreased in the province. The birth rate was between 26.34 per 1,000 and 30.98 per 1,000 in the 1950s, and between 27.34 per 1,000 and 42.51 per 1,000 in the 1960s (except for the year 1960). From the early 1970s, with the start of energetically promoting family planning, the birth rate and natural increase rate decreased substantially. Compared with 1993 and 1971. the birth rate decreased from 31.11 per 1,000 to 20.04 per 1,000 and the natural increase rate decreased from 22.72 per 1,000 to 13.11 per 1,000. The social and economic benefits were remarkable. Since the strong development of family planning work from the early 1970s, there were 9.8 million fewer births in the whole province and this situation greatly eased the burden on the social economy. The achievements of family planning work have been remarkable in Hubei, but there is no room for optimism. According to a calculation based on the "four popularization" materials, the number of women of child-bearing age reached 15.91 million in 1997, a 145,000 increase over 1996, reaching 16.04 million in 1998, a 130,000 increase over 1997. Because the number of women aged 20 to 29 was nearly 5.2 million, the potential pressure of population growth still cannot be neglected so the family planning work has a heavy burden to bear on a long road. In 2000, the family planning rate was 96.60% and the contraceptive prevalence rate of married woman was 89.39%. |
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