Major Province Maintains Low Population GrowthEast China's Shandong Province, which has the second largest population in the country, has kept its population growth at a low level for nine years running.Figures from the Shandong Provincial Family Planning Commission indicate that the province, now with a population of 88.8 million, had reduced its natural population growth rate to 0.481 percent by the end of 1999 from more than one percent in 1990. The province's birth rate had also lowered to 1.18 percent by 1999. An official with the commission said the shrinking population growth is mainly due to changes in thinking on the issue among local people. As living standards continue to rise, an increasing number of people have given up the traditional notion of more children meaning more happiness, according to the official. Nationwide, China's population increased by 10.99 million in 1999, making the total population 1.259 billion by the end of 1999, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. The 19.09 million births in 1999 represented a birth rate of 1.523 percent. The population's natural growth rate was 0.877 percent in 1999, down 0.076 percent from 1998. |
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