China's Total Population and Structural Changes in 2011
1. Continued slow growth in the total population
At the end of 2011, total population in mainland of China (included 31 provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities and CPLA, excluded Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR, Taiwan Province, and overseas Chinese) was 1,347,350,000 persons, increased 6.44 million persons as compared with the end of 2010. The annual birth stood at 16.04 million persons, birth rate was 11.93‰, increased 0.03 thousandth points over the previous year; the death stood at 9.6 million persons, death rate was 7.14‰, increased 0.03 thousandth points over the previous year.
2. The proportion of working-age population declined
At the end of 2011, the national population in the age group of 60 and over accounted for 184.99 million persons, occupied 13.7 percent of the total, rose by 0.47 percentage points over the end of the 2010. The national population in the age group of 65 and over accounted for 122.88 million persons, occupied 9.1 percent of the total, increased 0.25 percentage points. Due to the continued low level of fertility and the accelerated process of population aging, the proportion of population in working-age at 15-64 firstly fell down since 2002, which occupied 74.4 percent in 2011, slightly dropped 0.10 percentage points over the previous year. Although there will be slight fluctuations in the next few years, the labor supply issues need to pay more attention.
3. Downward trend of sex ratio at birth
In 2011, national sex ratio at birth was 117.78, decreased 0.16 over the previous year, sex ratio at birth declined for three consecutive years since 2008, which showed that the effectiveness of governance on the sex ratio at birth. Total population sex ratio was 105.18, due to the impact of births and deaths, the sex ratio of total population has been a downward trend since 2005.
4. Proportion of urban population was more than 50 percent for the first time
In 2011, the proportion of urban population reached 51.27 percent, climbed 1.32 percentage points over previous year, the urban population stood at 690.79 million persons, went up by 21 million persons, rural population stood at 656.56 million persons, decreased 14.56 million persons. Urban population was 34.23 million persons more than rural population.
5. Migration of population continued to increase
In 2011, the population separating from their household in the whole country (residence and household registration in towns where the streets are inconsistent and leave the household registration in more than half year) amounted to 271 million persons, 9.77 million persons increased over previous year. Of which, floating population (population separating from their household in municipal districts does not included) reached 230 million persons, rose by 8.28 million persons over the previous year.
Annotations:
1. Explanatory Notes
Population at year-end: refers to the total population at 2400 on December 31, 2011. The total population at year-ended includes CPLA, does not include Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR, Taiwan province, and overseas Chinese.
Urban population and rural population: urban population refers to all people residing in cities and towns, while rural population refers to population other than urban population.
Birth Rate (or Crude Birth Rate): refers to the ratio of the number of births to the average population (or mid-period population) during a certain period of time (usually a year), expressed in permillage (‰). Birth rate in this report refers to annual birth rate. The following formula is used: Birth Rate=Number of Births/Annual Average Population×1000‰
Number of births in the formula refers to live births, i.e. when a baby has breathed or showed any vital phenomena regardless of the length of pregnancy. Annual average population is the average of the number of population at the beginning of the year and that at the end of the year. Sometimes it is substituted by the mid-year population.
Death Rate (or Crude Death Rate): refers to the ratio of the number of deaths to the average population (or mid-period population) during a certain period of time (usually a year), expressed in ‰. Death rate in this report refers to annual death rate. The following formula is used: Death Rate=Number of Deaths/Annual Average Population×1000‰
Total population sex ratio: refers to per 100 females corresponding to 100 males of the total population at year-ended, used to reflect the relative comparison relation on the number of male and female population.
Sex ratio at birth: refers to per 100 live females corresponding to the number of live males of the total births within the year. The index in most countries was within the range of fluctuations at 105 ± 2.
2. Sources of Data
2011 National Sample Survey on Population Changes.
3. Survey Methods
National sample survey on population changes, taking the whole country as the sampling population, and the provincial units as the sampling sub-population, the samples were selected by adopting stratified, multi-stage, cluster, probability proportional to size sampling method, totally 4800 villages (neighborhood) committees, 4420 townships (towns, streets), and 2133 counties (cities, districts) in 31 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) were selected , and nearly 1.5 million persons were interviewed, of which, permanent residents accounted for 1.15 million persons. The data was collected by interviewing the selected households.