Making Sense of the Census

The results of last fall's Sixth National Census have been released and The People's Daily reports "China has put its excessive population growth under effective control, and has greatly improved the population quality, entering a stage of low birth and death rates." Among the more outstanding stats in the People's Daily report:

- "China's population increased by 73.9 million or nearly 6 percent from 2000 to 2010, representing an average growth rate of nearly 0.6 percent per year," which was down from the nearly 11 percent total population growth that occurred between 1990-2000.

- "China's urban population has reached 666 million, accounting for nearly 50 percent of the total population, an increase of nearly 14 percentage points from 2000" (as opposed to the mere 10 percent increase from 1990-2000).

- China's eastern provinces accounts for the lion's share of the country's population, accounting for around 38 percent of the populace, while both central and western China each have around 27 percent, followed by northeastern China with about 8 percent.

- Guangdong, Shandong, Henan, Sichuan and Jiangsu provinces have the top five permanent resident populations, respectively.

Meanwhile, according to The New York Times:

- "The census also documented a vast internal migration, concluding that more than 261 million citizens [read: migrant workers] — nearly one in five — were living in places other than where China’s household registration process had indicated that they did."

- China's total population now stands at "1.34 billion, an increase of 73.9 million, or 5.8 percent, from the last tally in 2000. That was below the 1.4 billion that United Nations demographers were predicting when the head count was conducted last November, and the slowest rate of growth in nearly half a century, demographers said."

- "The average household size shrank by 10 percent, to 3.1 people, and the urban population surged by more than 45 percent, leaving urban and rural Chinese nearly equal in number."

- The figures also "confirmed a yawning gender gap, with 118 male newborns for every 100 females."

- "The share of Chinese under age 15 dropped 6.3 percent, while that of those over 60 rose by 2.93 percent."

And last, but not least, the Shanghai Daily (via NingboLife) reports:

- Nearly 600,000 foreigners are now living in the Chinese Mainland, with a ratio of roughly 56.6% men and 43.4% women.

- South Korea has the most documented expats in China, with almost 121,000 of its citizens studying or working here.

- Americans are in the second spot with just under 71,500 US citizens in China, followed by Japan (66,159), Myanmar (39,776 - who would have thought?), Vietnam (36,205), Canada (just shy of 20,000), France and India (around 15,000 each), Germany (a little under 14,500) and Australia (almost 13,300).

- Guangdong, Shanghai and Beijing have the most foreigners, with 316,138, 208,602 and 107,445, in each respective area.

- Almost 235,000 Hong Kong residents, 21,201 Macau residents and 170,283 Taiwan residents were also documented to be living in the Mainland.