Liaoning |
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I. Basic Data |
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Name: Liaoning Province Area: 150,000 square kilometers Population: 42.38 million(2000 population census) Capital: Shenyang Geography: Liaoning lies in the northeastern part of China, between 181° 53'-125° 46' east longitude, and 38° 43'-43° 26' north latitude, surrounded by Jilin, Inner Mongolia and Hebei, and bordering on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to the east and by the Yalu River. Liaoning's climate is moderate. Ethnic groups living in this province include Man, Mongolian, Korean and Xibo people. Natural Resources: A total of 115 mineral resources including iron, magnesite, manganese, nonferrous metals and chemicals used in industry have been found in Liaoning, the reserves of which are quite huge. The province also enjoys abundant aquatic products and forest resources with a vegetation coverage rate of 28.7%. Economy: In 2000, the GDP of the whole province reached RMB 466.910 billion, with the per capita amount being RMB 11,226; fiscal revenue totaled RMB 93.01 billion; total value of fixed assets reached RMB 126.77 billion; and total grain output was 11.378 million tons. Since the implementation of China's reform and opening up policies, per capita GNP of Liaoning has increased rapidly; however, its growth rate is lower than the national average and the economically fast-growing coastal provinces. Therefore, greater efforts should be made to accelerate its economic development while keeping population growth under effective control. People's life: In 2000, Liaoning had employees of 20.52 million, of whom 5.465 million were state employees; the urban unemployed population totaled 10.86 million; In urban areas, the average wage of staff and workers reached RMB 6,639 and per capita consumption was RMB 4,356. Per capita floor space was 22.0 square meters for rural residents and 8.9 for urban residents. The savings deposits of urban and rural residents totaled RMB 377.96 billion. Per capita disposable income for urban residents was RMB 2,356. In addition, there were 41.8 hospital beds and 24.4 doctors and nurses for every 10,000 persons. Education: Education has developed quickly in Liaoning since the founding of the People's Republic. The proportion of the population with various educational levels has changed notably. In 2000, there were a total of 58 institutions of higher learning with an enrolment of 297,710 and a faculty of 61,707; 2,401 secondary schools with 2.167 million students and 175,455 teachers; and 13,356 primary schools with an enrolment of 4.621 million and a faculty of 216,677. The proportion of illiterate and semi-literate persons was decreasing. In 2000, the illiterate population was 2.02 million and illiterate rate was 4.76%. However, the low proportion of people with higher learning is far from meeting the needs of the province's rapid economic development. |
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II. Population Situation |
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1. Size and Distribution In 2000, Liaoning's population totaled 42.38 million, ranking it 12th nationwide; and the number of households was 13.06 million, or 11th in the country, indicating that Liaoning was a province with a moderate population size. 2. Population History Over the decades from 1949 through 1997, Liaoning's total population soared from 18.305 million to over 40 million, with an average of 510,000 being added annually, for a rate of increase of 1.89%, higher than the national average of 1.77%. The rate reached a peak in the 1950s (3.17%). Since then, the rate has been decreasing continuously: 1.98% in the 1960s, 1.23% in the 1970s and 1.19% in the 1980s. In 1990, Liaoning contributed 3.49% to the country's total population, a rate nearly unchanged since 1949. 3. Population Structure by Sex and Age The sex ratio has decreased steadily over the past decade, with that in 2000 standing at 104.03. The proportion of teenagers is decreasing continuously while that of the aged is increasing significantly. According to the 2000 population census, the population aged 0 - 14 totaled 7.49 million in the same year, accounting for 17.68% of the province's total population, with the dependency ratio of the young standing at 23.73%. People aged 65 and over numbered 3.32 million, making up 7.83% of the province's total, with the dependency ratio of the aged standing at 10.52%. The change in proportions of the young and aged in the total population indicates that the process of population aging is accelerating in Liaoning. 4. Fertility Level and Changes In the 1950s and 1960s, population growth in Liaoning remained in a natural state, featuring a high birth rate. For the 1950s, the birth rate reached its highest point in 1954 (44.5 per 1,000) when 932,000 people were born, and in the 1960s, it reached the highest rate in 1963 (49.1 per 1,000) when 1.28 million people were born. However, in the 1970s and 1980s, both the birth rate and number of people born were on the decrease. The birth rate was 26.6 per 1,000 in 1970, the highest in that decade, and 18.9 per 1,000 in 1982, the highest rate in the 1980s, both far below the fertility levels in the 1950s and 1960s. The birth rate was kept under 20.0 per 1,000 over the 16 years from 1974 to 1989 and further dropped to 8.9 in 1997. The total fertility rate (TFR) decreased by 76.3% between 1964 and 1989 and reached 1.05 children per woman in 1997. The peak fertility rate was 164.6 per 1,000 and parity-specific peak fertility rates were 163.3, 38.4 and 0.5 per 1,000 respectively for first, second and third or more children. Currently, the fertility level of women of childbearing age has remained low in Liaoning. In the 2000 population census, the birth rate was 10.70 per 1,000 and the rate of natural increase was 4.00 per 1,000. 5. Mortality and Life Expectancy Mortality may be viewed during four periods in Liaoning: (1) 1949 - 1956. A sharp decrease from over 20 deaths per 1,000 population in 1948 to 10 in 1956. (2) 1957?1961. A slight increase to 17.5 deaths per 1,000 in 1961, the highest in this period. (3) 1962 - 1975. A steady reduction to between 5 and 6 deaths per 1,000. (4) 1976 - 1989. Keeping at a low level of between 5 and 5.5 deaths per 1,000. (5)In 2000, the mortality rate was 6.7 per 1,000. 6. Marriage Status, Family Size and Type In 1997, first-time married women in Liaoning totaled 230,100, with an early marriage rate of 0.08% and late marriage rate of 64.56%, according to statistics released by family planning departments. A sampling survey of demographic change in the same year shows that Liaoning had 3.368 million unmarried population, 6.63 million remarried currently with spouses, 4.4 million were divorced and 1.712 million were widowed. In recent years, the proportions of the unmarried and widowed have declined significantly while those of the married and divorced increased slightly. With the social development and change of composition of people at marriage age, the development trend of marriage in Liaoning is healthy and balanced; however, the pace varies. According to the forth and fifth population census, in 1990, the average size of family households was 3.59, but in 2000, it was 3.15, down 0.44. 7. Aging of the Population Population aging in Liaoning has experienced three periods:
In 1990, people aged 65 and over contributed 5.68% of the province's total population, with the dependency ratio of the aged standing at 7.99%. By 2000, Currently, Liaoning is still some way from being an aged society; however, the trend of aging is irreversible. By 2000, the proportion of people aged 65 and above was 7.83 to total, the dependency ratio of aged was 10.52%. 8. Migration and the Floating Population Statistics from the public security department reveal that for many years, immigrants have outnumbered emigrants in Liaoning. In 1997, the population of migrants in Liaoning totaled 1.083 million, of whom 577,000 were immigrants and 506,000 emigrants. Of the 890,000 inter-provincial migrants, 464,000 were in-migrating and 426,000 out-migrating, both increasing significantly. Of the 193,000 inter-provincial migrants, 113,000 were in-migrating and 80,000 out-migrating, with both on the decrease. In 1997, the net migration rate reached 1.7 per 1,000, of which total intra-provincial migration accounted for 0.9 per 1,000 and inter-provincial 0.8. 9. Population, Resources and the Environment While enjoying the advantage of abundant natural resources, Liaoning is faced with an uneven composition of these resources and population pressure. Furthermore, Liaoning is one of the most polluted areas in China, which directly causes an annual loss of RMB 2 billion. |
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III. Family Planning |
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The advocacy of family planning in Liaoning began in 1956 and its development experienced a tortuous process of four periods: Introduction of the program in the 1950s. The population reproduction model changed swiftly from a "high birth rate, high mortality rate and low natural increase rate" before 1949 to a "high birth rate, low mortality rate and high natural increase rate". The birth rate rose sharply to 26 per 1,000 in 1950 and further to 39.1 in 1954 and 1955. The first national census in 1953 indicates the incompatibility between overly rapid growth of the population and socio-economic development. On March 15, 1958, the Birth Control Committee of Liaoning was founded. However, the birth control program that had already started was forced to stop because of the nationwide wrong criticisms directed at Ma Yinchu's "New Population Theory". Thus, population growth from the 1950s to the early 1960s was not effectively controlled. Implementation and setback in the 1960s. After three years of economic difficulty between 1959 and 1961, a baby boom occurred in 1962 and 1963, with the birth rate as high as 53.7 per 1,000 in 1963. In 1962, in the spirit of the Instructions on Promotion of Family Planning issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, family planning was practiced once again in the whole province. In 1963, the provincial government worked out a seven-year plan to limit its population to around 30 million by 1970, which had produced remarkable results. In 1964, the birth rate dropped by a large margin and again in 1966 it dropped to 21.4 per 1,000. Afterwards, the family planning program suffered a setback due to the Cultural Revolution that started in the second half of 1966. Resumption and development in the 1970s. In 1972, the Liaoning Family Planning Committee was established and a goal was set during the Fourth Five-year Plan period (1971 - 1975) to keep the natural increase rate at 10 per 1,000 and below 15 per 1,000 respectively for the urban and rural populations. Late marriage was also encouraged in this period. The late marriage rate rose from 58.3% in 1973 to 84.4% in 1978. In this period, the birth rate dropped from 26.6 per 1,000 to 14.4 per 1,000 and the natural increase rate from 21.5 per 1,000 to 8.9 per 1,000. Further development in the 1980s. In 1979, the Liaoning Family Planning Committee was officially set up and put under the administration of the provincial government. Concrete activities and measures include regular and large-scale publicity campaigns to provide education on the basic national policy; formulating family planning policies, laws and regulations; establishing and improving various responsibility systems; strengthening technical services; and ensuring the effective practice of birth control measures. Therefore, since the 1980s, Liaoning has led the rest of the country in many indicators concerning family planning. Major achievements in family planning include:
The implementation of the family planning program has brought tremendous benefits to the economy of Liaoning. |
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