Sex ratio for newborns aged zero to four had reached 163.5 boys
to 100 girls by the end of 2005 in Lianyungang, a city in east
China's Jiangsu Province.
Similarly alarming figures have also been recorded in Hainan,
Henan, Guangdong and Anhui, with Hainan chalking up a ratio of 136
to 100, according to a report of the China Family Planning
Association (CFPA), which called for attention to the severe
challenges in population affairs.
A total of 99 cities had sex ratios higher than 125 and the
national average figure reached 119 in 2005, the CFPA said.
The normal sex ratio should be kept below 107:100, according to
the United Nations standards.
The CFPA, which is affiliated to the National Population and
Family Planning Commission (NPFPC), attributed the gender imbalance
to sex-selection abortions aided by ultrasonic scanning, which is
banned by regulations but still pervasive in many places.
"The root reason should be the traditional thinking that boys
are better than girls, especially in poverty-stricken areas. Those
people expect boys to support the family by going out for jobs,"
said Song Jiang, a professor of Population and Development
Department of the Beijing-based Renmin University.
Highly imbalanced sex ratio may seriously affect stability and
harmony, Jiang said, noting it increases difficulties for men in
poor areas to find spouses.
The report, delivered at a recent forum in Shenyang, northeast
China's Liaoning province, also mentioned other population-related
challenges confronting China.
It said that as net population growth maintains an annual rate
of eight to ten million, China will meet its population peak of
about 1.5 billion around 2030.
However, the overall quality of China's population is not high.
The incidence of birth defects stands at 4 percent to 6 percent
every year, which puts heavy burden on their families and the
society.
Endemic and infectious diseases also seriously threaten public
health. For example, AIDS is proliferating from the high-risk
groups to the general population, the CFPA said.
China's working population, men in the 16-59 year age bracket
and women in the 16-54 age bracket, will peak at 932 million by
2013 and stand at around 930 million by 2020, the CFPA said, noting
finding enough jobs for them is an important and arduous task.
People aged above 60 now accounted for more than 11 percent of
the total population and will grow to 16.1 percent by 2020, which
means the government will have to support 234 million aged people
by that time and meet serious challenges in social security, social
welfare and service, the CFPA said.
It said China had 147 million migrant workers by 2005 and will
have 300 million more from the rural areas by 2020. The huge forces
of migrant workers have already constituted challenges to the
country's infrastructural facilities, resources and the
government's public administration and service capabilities, the
CFPA said.
By the end of 2005, the CFPA said, rural people that didn't have
sufficient food and clothing numbered 23.65 million, while rural
people who had just passed this line but still earned very low
income numbered 40.67 million. In the Tenth Five-year Plan period
(2001-2005), 22 million urban residents relied on government
financial aid to sustain basic living.
In addition, 40 million farmers have lost their farmland in land
development projects and the number is growing at a rate of 3
million a year. Some of these people may easily drift into
poverty.
The CEPA also noted that China's per capita fresh water, arable
land, forest, minerals and some other important resources are all
lower than the world's average level.
(Xinhua News Agency August 25, 2007)