China's Population to Hit 1.3 Bln This Week

[Gloria]

New World Media Watch up now at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical
Tomorrow at Buzzflash.com


5//Xinhuanet.com, China 2005-01-04 10:29:51

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-01/04/content_2413354.htm



CHINA’S POPULATION TO HIT 1.3 BLN THIS WEEK



BEIJING, Jan. 4 (Xinhuanet) -- The population in the Chinese mainland is expected to reach 1.3 billion on Jan. 6, according to a prediction the National Statistics Bureau (NSB) released Sunday.



The day has been successfully postponed for four years with the effective birth control policies in China, the NSB source said.



China has made persistent efforts to slow its population growth over the past 30 years and succeeded in reducing the birth rate, said an official of the State Commission for Population and Family Planning (SCPFP).



(SNIP)



However the country would face new and severe challenges with its population climbing to the level of 1.3 billion, the SCPFP official said.



Although the population growth rate has been reduced, the actual increase is still huge. Also the country is expecting a peak in the number of elderly and migrant population amid growing imbalance in gender proportions among newborn babies, the official said.



The pressure on employment also grows with the increase of population, he added.

[El Supremo]

1. And they're all working for Wal-Mart. n/t

[saltpoint]

2. No question what these folks do in their spare time.

[GHOSTDANCER]

3. Damn thats a billion more then the US. a Billion!!! try counting to that.

[Yupster]

4. India's right there with them

aren't they?

[ckramer]

5. Now you guys should understand the number representing the federal deficit

U.S. NATIONAL DEBT CLOCK

[flaminbats]

6. never fear...

in 50 years we'll probably pass them in population size!

[Lorien]

9. If that's the case, we'll be dead in 20

the planet's resources-at CURRENT consumption rates- will only last 40-50 more years.

[Wabbajack]

21. Ahhhhhh

It's going up like 30k PER SECOND!!

[cliss]

7. Now can someone explain to me

What happened to their population program? I remember reading that China was well aware that it had too many people about 40 years ago. They decided to control their burgeoning population by decreeing that every family can only have 1 CHILD. I.e. 1 child per couple.

Any more children, and it was off to the abortion clinic. Legally mandated. The idea was that they were going to cut their population in half by the year 2000.

And logically, it makes sense doesn't it? A country with 1 million people has only 1 child per couple. Logic tells me = your population will be cut by half.

So why is their population still growing?

[Igel]

10. No, the increase makes sense.

There's still a large enough population of people having kids.
It's the same thing that produced the baby boomlet in the US.

Gen. 0: your parents, 2. Let's say they have 4 kids.
Gen. 1: 4 kids ... so 2 couples' worth ... each has 4 kids ... so 8.
<2 + 4 + 8 = 14 people, so far; 1 child policy takes effect>

gen. 2: 8 kids from gen. 1 are 4 couples' worth; each has 1 kid: 4.
<assume gen. 0 is dead, just 3 generations alive: gen. 1, 2, 3: 4 + 8 + 4 = 16. Population's increased, birth rate's decreased; that's where we are>

gen. 3: the 4 kids from gen 2 = 2 couples' worth ... each has 1 kid: 2 kids.
<assuming gen. 1 is dead ... 8 + 4 + 2 ... we're back to 12 ... but note that when those 8 retire, they're be 4-6 people to support them>

gen. 4: the 2 kids from gen. 3 make up one couple's worth: 1 kid.
<if gen. 2's gone, we have 4 + 2 + 1 = 7 ... over a 50% decrease in population.>

[cliss]

14. I got it!

Thanks for the explanation. I forgot about the parents themselves.....you're right.

There are still more people.

Now, I believe we currently have 6 billion people on this planet. Of those, 1.5 billion are Chinese. I believe 1.5 billion are Hindus. The US has 288 million. Europe has about the same.

What makes up all the rest?

[Rockerdem]

15. This is no laughing matter

One of these days, the Chinese GDP will surpass ours and our second place status will become forever. Politics will be a much more serious matter than it is right now. This is the one, sole reason why the leadership of both parties have collaborated in opening the immigration doors wide open, to put off the inevitable. There will come a day when the stark, dangerous reality is going to hit the average jane/joe on top of the noggin. People wil act stunned, and scared. If you think that things are fascistic now, wait until that day. Our citizens will be desperate for any promise for security's sake. We will be like the Sunnis who are now for the first time peering at a strong Shiite horde with all the strings of power, instead of them.

And dont write off India getting its shit together.

[LibertyLover]

13. China

Yes, there is a one child policy, however it really only strictly observed in the cities. In the countryside there is some leniency. For example, in the country, if your first child is a girl (or is a boy but with physical and/or mental challenges), you can usually get permission to try again for another child, hopefully a boy. If that 2nd child is also a girl, she is often abandoned and ends up in an orphanage. If she's lucky, she gets put into the foreign adoption program and is adopted overseas. That's how I got my daughter.

If the second child is a boy, the couple usually stops. But - if something is wrong with that child, like CP or spina bifida or mental retardation, then they can get permission to try for a 3rd child. If a girl, she will be abandoned, and so on to #4.

We have been told that our little girl most likely has an older sister in China and by now (she was born in 2002) possibly a younger brother or another sister who was also abandoned.

If a couple has a son as a first child and decides to try for a second, at least in the country, they have to pay a heavy fine - as much as one or two year's salary are figures I have heard. I don't know if the fines are imposed in the case of a couple having a girl first and then getting permission to try for a son.

[wickerwoman]

20. Actually it's peaking and levelling off.

They're even relaxing the one child policy because it has worked so well at curbing the population growth.

In the cities you can have a second kid if you pay a fine (only about 5000 RMB- $600- about two months salary.) And if two only children marry they can have two kids.

[GOPBasher]

8. That's so bad.

This world is way too overpopulated. We are using too many resources and causing way too much pollution. This is not sustainable.

Here in the U.S., our problem is not overpopulation but overconsumption. We only have 5% of the world's population, which is okay; but we who only make up that 5% use about 1/3 of the world's resources and cause roughly 25% of its pollution.

[Massachusetts]

11. How do you say How are you

in Chinese?:bounce:

[blindpig]

12. only a cold blooded capitalist could be happy about this

more people = more market
and
more workers = cheaper labor
it's win-win if you don't give a fuck about the planet, its nonhuman inhabitants or the future of humankind.

[bleedingheart]

22. When you have so many people...life is cheap

so is labor (as you pointed out)...personally it also boosts my theory that Chinese officials aren't so concerned about the AIDS crisis in their country due in part to the fact that they are overpopulated...may sound sick and a bit tin-foily...but it may be true.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

16. Jeeze, and Goldwater was scared of them when they had

500million or so.

[Tight_rope]

17. They are having a serious case of "UTERUS ABUSE" in China!

[alexisfree]

18. 1.3 billion in China - Yikes get ready for a disaster in china to curb the

population.

[Clarkie1]

19. That's a lot of people