Brief Introduction

 


I. Main Contents

Data in this chapter show the basic condition of the population in 2006 as well as previous years for the whole nation and 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government. They include the sizes of  the national population, urban population and rural population over the years; as well as size, birth rates, death rates, natural growth rates, dependency ratio, household size and education attainment of the population by region in 2006.

II. Sources of Data

Data in this chapter are prepared by the Department of Population and Employment Statistics of the National Bureau of Statistics. In tables 4-1 and 4-2, figures for 1982-1989 have been adjusted in line with the data from the 1982 and 1990 National Population Census; figures for 1990-2000 have been adjusted on the basis of the 2000 National Population Census; figures for 2001-2004 and 2006 are estimates from the annual national sample survey on population changes; figures for 2005 are estimated from the 2005 National 1% Population Sample Survey; and figures for other years are statistics derived from household registration. Data in Table 4-3 and 4-4 are estimates from the 2006 National Sample Survey on Population Changes. Data in Table 4-5 present the main results from the five national population censuses. Data in Table 4-6 are compiled from the 1990 and 2000 National Population Census. Data in tables 4-7 to 4-15 are the sample results of the 2006 National Sample Survey on Population Changes. 

III. Sampling Methodology

The 2006 National Sample Survey on Population Change adopted a stratified multi-stage systematic PPS cluster sampling scheme, taking the whole nation as the population and each province, autonomous region or municipality as sub-populations. A total of 1.19 million people were selected from 11,837 survey districts in 3,469 townships (towns and street committees) in 1,895 counties (cities and districts) of the 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. The size of the sample was thus 0.907 per thousand of the national population. The weighted estimation procedure suggested that the birth rate was 12.09 per thousand, the death rate was 6.81 per thousand and the natural growth rate was 5.28 per thousand for China in 2006. Based on these rates, it was further estimated that China had a total population of 1,314.48 million at the end of 2006, with 15.84 million births, 8.92 million deaths and a net increase of 6.92 million people during the year.