Zhejiang |
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I. Basic Data |
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1. Name: Zhejiang Province 2. Area: Less than 0.1 million square kilometers 3. Population: 46.77 million (2000 population census) 4. Capital: Hangzhou City 5. Geography: Zhejiang Province lies in Southeast China, between east longitude 118° 01' - 123° 08' and north latitude 27° 01 - 31° 10' , in the north near the Tai Lake and in the east along the East Sea. It has a long coastline, 2,200 km, and a great many islands, i.e. 2,100. It is in the sub-tropical humid monsoon zone. Shanghai City, Jiangsu, Anhui, Jiangxi and Fujian provinces border Zhejiang Province. 6. Natural Resources: The province has various natural resources, such as productive land, plentiful non-metal resources, marine resources, various harbors, a quality deep shoreline, attractive tourism resources, i.e. beautiful mountains and various cultures. On the other hand, Zhejiang is short of arable land per capita, energy and basic industrial material resources. 7. Economy: In 2000, the GDP of Zhejiang Province was 603.634 billion Yuan and its per capita GDP was 13,461 Yuan. The total amount of imports and exports reached 27.834 billion Yuan. Its total revenue and total amount of grain crops were 65.842 billion Yuan and 12.177 million tons, respectively. 8. People's life: At the end of 2000, Zhejiang had 27.261 million persons employed. The percentage of registered urban unemployed workers was 3.40%. The total wages of workers and staff in urban units was valued at 150.25 million Yuan. The average wages of staff and workers was 12,414 Yuan. Per capita disposable income of urban residents was 9,279 Yuan and per capita net income of rural residents was 4,254 Yuan. Per capita living floor space of urban and rural households was 14.04 and 46.42, respectively. Per capita consumption level of resident was 4,366 Yuan, while the urban and rural residents was 8,478 Yuan and 3,229 Yuan, respectively. Enrollment rate of school age children was 99.93%. The number of sickbeds and doctors were 113,700 and 74,400, respectively. 9. Education: At the end of 2000, Zhejiang had 35 institutes of higher education with 222,270 students and 18,981 teachers; 2,940 regular secondary schools with 2.50 million students and 139,300 teachers; and 11,800 primary schools with 3.54 million students and 160,400 teachers. The illiterate rate was 7.06%, while in 1990 it was 17.46%, down 10.40%. |
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II. Population Situation |
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1. Size and Distribution In 2000, Zhejiang had a population of 46.77 million. The basic structure of population distribution is as follows: the densely populated zone is in the North Zhe Plain and the South-east Zhe Plain, the second most densely populated zone is the Jinju Basin and the relatively sparsely populated zones are East Zhe, South Zhe and the West Zhe Hills and Mountains. 2. Population History Since 1949, the development of Zhejiang's population has varied considerably. According to the population growth rate, development can be divided into five stages:
3. Population Structure by Sex and Age Population sex ratio of Zhejiang was high in 1947, i.e. 113.35. However, since 1949, the sex ratio has declined slowly toward normal. In the period 1949 - 64, the sex ratio was more than 109, with the highest level being 111.35. In the period 1965 - 78, it was 108 - 109. In 1979 - 97, it was 106 - 108, i.e. almost normal. The 2000 population census showed it was 105.57. Since 1949, Zhejiang's population age structure has changed, with the proportion in the younger age groups decreasing, according to on the fourth census data. In 2000 population census, the number of population at age of 0 - 14 was 8.45 million and 18.07% to total population, 15 - 64 was 34.18 million and 73.09%, 65 and above was 4.14 million and 8.84%. The percent of population at 65 and above was the second place in China, after Shanghai. 4. Fertility Level and Changes In the 1990s, the characteristics of fertility were as follows: a low birth rate but high number of absolute births; with distinctive differences in various areas. In 2000, the crude birth rate (CBR) was 10.30 per 1,000 and natural growth rate (NGR) was 4.17 per 1,000. According to the population projections by high, middle and low parameters, CBR will continue to decline smoothly in the early period of the next 50 years. And in the late period, it will be wavy, fluctuating between 11 and 13 per 1,000. 5. Mortality and Life Expectancy Before 1949, the crude death rate (CDR) of the Zhejiang population was high, i.e. 28.2 per 1,000 in 1936. However, between 1949 and 1997, the CDR had declined gradually, from 14.84 per 1,000 in 1949 to 6.13 per 1,000 in 2000. The Zhejiang population has finished the transition from a high to a low CDR. Before the establishment of People's Republic, the average life expectancy at birth was only about 35 years. However, it rose to 72.03 in 1989, according to the fourth population census. 6. Marriage Status, Family Size and Type In 1997, 18.8% of the population above 15 year old were unmarried, 73.7% were married, 6.64% were widowed and 0.86% were divorced. Since 1949, the number of households has increased continuously. From 1953 to 2000, the number rose from 5.7976 million to 14.450 million. Currently, family size is decreasing and the family structure is also becoming simple. Compared with that in 1982, most families in 1990 had 2, 3 or 4 persons, accounting for 68.63% of the total families. The proportion of nuclear families rose, that of stem families was smooth, and that of joint families declined. In 2000, average family size was 2.99. 7. Aging of the Population The fourth census indicated that Zhejiang's population has become an aged one since 1990. It is one of five provinces which became an aged society. The characteristics of aging are as follows: rapid aging rate (the growth rate of the elderly population being much faster than that of the total population); relatively young age structure of the elderly population (in 1990, the population 60 - 69 years old accounted for 60.97% of the population above 60 years old. But the proportion above 80 years of age accounted for only 9.18%); also the rate of aging rate was not the same in all areas. In 1990, the percent of population at age 65 and above to total was 6.83%, while in 2000, it was 8.84%. 8. Population Quality According to the fourth census, the proportion of the population with middle or higher education increased and the proportion of the population illiterate and semi-literate declined. Compared with 1964 and 1982, the population with a higher education increased 2.1 times and 1.67 times, respectively; the crude illiteracy rate decreased from 37.89% and 23.93% to 17.61%. However, compared with the national average, the quality of Zhejiang population is relatively low. The number of people with a higher education and high school was below the national average. The general point of population education was only 7.885, ranking 16th in China. The average years of education totaled only about six. The ratio of the population with a higher education and who were illiterate was 6.65%, ranking 19th in China. Furthermore, the drop-out problem is still serious. The illiterate rate was 17.46% in 1990, 7.06% in 2000, down 10.40. 9. Migration and the Floating Population In the 35 years from 1956 to 1990, there were 23 years when out-migration was more that in-migration and 12 years when out-migration was less than in-migration. Since the 1980s, the number of migrants has become high, but the migration rate has remained relatively stable; inner-provincial migration has been dominant; compared with the national average, the rate of inter-provincial migration is higher, but inner-provincial migration is lower. According to the fourth census, on July 1, 1990, the floating population who had left the county where the household was registered for more than one year was 2.145 million, accounting for 5.2% of the census registered population. The city with the biggest floating population was Wenzhou City. It had a floating population of 0.5057 million, accounting for 9.4% of the census registered population. The inner-county floating population was 1.3 million in 1990. The basic characteristics of the floating population are as follows: more males than females; more young people; relatively high education; mostly engaged in industry and service work; convergence in the local vicinity, city neighborhoods, developed economy, undeveloped service industry, or energy, among others. 10. Population, Resources and the Environment With a large population educated at a relatively low level, the population pressure on resource tends to be serious. For meeting the increasing population and its demands, natural resource have been exploited deeply and the environment is becoming frail. |
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III. Family Planning |
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The family planning program began in the middle of the 1950s and can be divided into four stages. 1954 - 1961 In 1954, the high CBR of 39.40 per 1,000 caught the attention of the government. Birth control work began at that time. IEC campaigns on contraception were developed, directions on how to use contraceptive methods were provided, and contraceptive agents and devices were provided by marketing departments. At this time, contraceptives were introduced mainly for male use. The family planning program focused on urban areas including factories, government and high population density areas. There was no related work in rural areas. In 1959 - 1961, owing to the serious economies decline, population growth dropped to a low level. The work of birth control was shelved. 1962 - 1970 After a three-year decline in the economy, the CBR of Zhejiang Province rose dramatically. In 1963, the family planning program recovered first in urban and then in rural areas. In September 1963, the Zhejiang Family Planning Commission was set up. A sub-area family planning office was included in the health department. Employing medical graduates, the Province Technological Directing Committee was set up to organize technology training and improve employees in the same year. In this period, "Temporary Regulation on Some Issues of Family Planning" and "On Some Issues of Family Planning" were made and implemented successfully. Contraceptive agencies and contraceptive devices and research began to be emphasized, along with production and the supply of devices. However, in the later period, owing to the breakup of the "Cultural Revolution", the family planning program was obstructed completely. The second culmination of population growth appeared. 1971 - 1978 In this period, the leading group of family planning was strengthened. Population projections were included in the national economic and social development program. Because of completely implementing the population policy of "deferred, spaced and fewer" children and strengthening the work of family planning technology, rapid population growth was brought under control. 1979 to present In 1980, the focus of the family planning program began to transfer from "deferred, spaced and fewer" to "universally advocate each couple to have only one child". Raised to the status of a fundamental national policy, the family planning program was universally publicized. In the next year, the Provincial Family Planning Commission became an independent official department of the provincial government. "Regulation of Zhejiang Province Family Planning (Draft)", formulated in March 1982, set down specific population policies and principles of the family planning program. In 1984, the one-child policy was adjusted slightly and became a little loose. At the same time, the construction of a family planning network was emphasized. In the same year, the family planning association, a communicative bridge between government and residents, was set up at all levels. In 1988, the system of family planning management by objective and responsibility was made and implemented universally. Family planning became one of the important items in office objectives and assessment content. The No. 1 director of each government office must be generally responsible for the family planning program. Meanwhile, various family planning welfare and insurance programs were developed. In the "Regulation of Zhejiang Province Family Planning" revised in December 1989, contemporary population policy was stabilized. Since 1994, Zhejiang Province has positively explored new ways of family planning under the new conditions of a socialist marketing economy. The "integrated approach" and the "three emphases" have been implemented universally. The rural family planning program was integrated with economic development and assistance to peasants in their endeavor to have happy families with modern ethics and culture, and better living conditions. The field of family planning services was broadened and the program's quality was improved completely. Since the establishment of the People's Republic, especially in the 1970s, Zhejiang Province's family planning program has effectively controlled population growth, which produced distinctive social and economic effects as follows: Effectively controlling rapid population growth and accelerating economic development -- Since 1979, except for 1981 and 1982, the province's NGR has been below 10 per 1,000. In 2000, it was 4.17 per 1,000. The decline in population growth not only saves a great deal of capital for the nation and society, but relieves the relative population pressure on education, medical service, employment, ecology and the environment. Improving population quality-- Before the establishment of the People's Republic, the life expectancy of Zhejiang was only 35 years. However, the fourth population census showed that the life expectancy was 72.03 years in 1989, more than twice of that of 1935. The population with higher education in 1990 was more 2.1 times higher than that in 1964 and 1.67 times higher than in 1982. The crude illiteracy rate declined from 37.89% in 1964, 23.93% in 1982, 17.46% in 1990 to 7.06% in 2000. Accelerating the transition of population reproduction-- Before 1949, the pattern of Zhejiang population reproduction was high birth, high death and low growth rates. Since the universal implementation of the family planning program, it has gradually transited into the modern population pattern, namely low birth, low death and low growth rates. Marriage and childbirth Following China's economic development, more and more people understand, support and willingly implement the family planning program, as can be seen by the change in TFR (5.81 in the 1960s, 3.08 in the 1970s, 1.97 in the 1980s and 1.5 in 1989). International cooperation and communication Since 1979, 11 family planning cadres and medical staff have visited the United Kingdom, United States, Japan, Thailand, Republic of Korea, Singapore and Philippines. They received training in clinical management, medical statistics of epidemiology, population policy, population program administration, statistics of family planning, IEC and community service. Meanwhile, many foreigners have visited and studied the Zhejiang Province family planning program. At the same time, Zhejiang Province implemented seven international programs in family planning. |
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