Abstract

PIP: The State Family Planning Commission of the Planning and Statistical Department in China has published its 1988-90 population and family planning statistics. The table lists these statistics by year and percentage change between years. The data are reported as numbers and rates or proportions. The population of China increased from 1.096 to 1.143 billion between 1988-90. The largest increase occurred between 1989-90 (31.42% vs. 15.77% [1988-89]). The death rate declined slightly between 1988-89 (.08%), but increased somewhat between 1989-90 (.17%). The birth rate increase, but only slightly (.05% [1988-89] and .23% [1989-90]). The percentage of 1st parity births fell between 1988-89 (.3%), but rose between 1989-90 (.9%). The opposite occurred for 2nd parity births (0.2% and -2.1%, respectively). The total fertility rate fell consistently from 2.52 in 1988 to 2.35 in 1989 and to 2.31 in 1990. There was no change in the number of women of childbearing age between 1988-89, but between 1989-90, the number increased by 10 million. Yet the number of married women of childbearing age did not increase at all between 1988-90. The number of people adopting contraception increased 8.34% between 1988-89 and 10.32% between 1989-90. Likewise the contraceptive prevalence rate also rose (6% [1988-89] and 5% [1989-90]). Contraceptive prevalence was highest for IUDs (about 40%), female sterilization (around 37%), and vasectomy (1.5%). The number of people agreeing to have only 1 child increased during the time period (1.32% [1988-89] and 2.42% [1989-90]). Accordingly, so did the percentage of people agreeing to have only 1 child (o.6% [1988-89] and 1.5% [1989-90]).