CCTV9英语新闻：Latest census shows China's population at 1.374 bln（在线收听）

The world most populous country gets even bigger. China's population now sits at 1.37 billion people. That’s according to the latest sample census covering over 21 million Chinese across the country. To break it down further, let's bring in my colleague Zhao Lingfeng.

Q1. So Lingfeng, what did the survey reveal, especially compared with the 2010 census?

A. I like your saying about the big country getting even bigger now. The census was drawn from a sampling of 1.5 percent of the population. It shows the number of people rose by nearly 34 million in the past five years. That number may not sound big for China, but in fact it's nearly the same as the entire population of Canada. In terms of annual growth rate, the rise is 0.5%, down from the zero-point-five-seven percent increase recorded in the decade since two-thousand. That’s also the slowest in China’s recent history, according to the the National Bureau of Statistics. One expert suggests a surge in the population growth rate is likely in the coming years, after the easing of the family planning policy. And a population peak is estimated to arrive somewhere around two thousand twenty-eight. The results also suggest males account for roughly 51% of the population, which puts the male-to-female ratio at one-hundred-five point zero-two. slightly lower than five years ago. The main contributing factor is a faster overall improvement of women’s health than men’s, and longer life expectancy as well.

So we've covered the added numbers. Now let's talk about demographics.  Did any new data reveal signs, either positive or alarming, for China's future?

Let’s me start with numbers that show new trends in urbanization. The report shows about 56% of Chinese are now living in urban areas. Under 50% did so five years ago. So that's a significant change. The shift also means more people have better living standards and social welfare as many more social resources have been poured into cities compared with rural areas. In terms of what is concerning, a shrinking labor force definitely beats all other factors revealed by the survey. The number of people aged between 15 to 59 has fallen by about 15 million in the past five years. they now account for about sixty-seven percent of the entire population. Over 16 percent of the population are now over sixty and the greying trend will continue. One in every three is expected to be older than sixty by the middle of the century. But there is another positive. The working population is better educated than 5 years ago. Over 170 million people with a college education or above that means one in eight has a college degree. Back in 2010, it was only about one in eleven. And experts say a better educated work force is definitely key for China's economic transformation and innovation.