1. Name: Hubei Province
2. Areas: 185,900 square kilometers
3. Population: 58,730,000 (by the end of 1997)
4. Capital: Wuhan
5. Geography: Hubei province is located at mid-stream of the biggest river-Yangtze River in China, Hubei, the name was given because it was in the north of Dongting Lake. The north of Hubei is Henan, the east is Anhui, the south are Hunan and Jiangxi, the west is Sichuan and the north-west is Shanxi. It is situated between 108°21’ to 116°07’ east longitude and 29°25’ to 33°21’ north latitude. It is a central zone for crossing from the east to west and connecting from the south to north of China.
6. Natural Resources: Hubei is very rich in natural resources. It possessed an advantageous position in land, water, biotic, mineral and energy resources in China. Water resources take the fourth place and the volume of surface water take the tenth place in China. Total 131 kinds of minerals were found in the whole province and among them phosphorus, limestone, garnet and marl are in the first place in China. Iron, copper, gypsum, halite, gold, mercury, manganese, vanadium and nickel are all in the seventh place. Various kinds of biotic resources and more than 3,000 kinds of animal and plant resources have been found. Shennongjia is located in the high mountains and lofty hills in the north-west of the province and is the only tract of primary forest in the east of China and the forest coverage rate is 70%. There are 1,747 kinds of wild animals (among them more than 20 kinds are listed to be protected as rare animals in China).
7. Economy: In 1997 the favorable situation of high growth and low inflation emerged economy in Hubei The GDP reached to RMB 345 billion, 13% increased, 12% exceeded of the planned target and it was 4.2% higher than the average speed of the whole country. The price tendency was low, the rising rate of the retailed price was 1.5% in 1997 and it was lower than 7% ─ the control target. The situation of financial income and expenditure were good, it reached to RMB 25,585 billion, 18.3% increased, the absolute amount exceeding RMB 24.4 billion was realized and the growth rate exceeded the target of 15%. Good harvest achieved in agriculture, the grain production was 2.344 million tons, the total vegetable oil production was 1.9547 million tons and both topped the record of history. The industrial production increased constantly and rapidly, the economic benefits tended to rebound. The gross output value of industry and agriculture reached to RMB 722.068 billion, the average per person GDP of the whole province was RMB 5,899 and 12.1% increased. The total value of import and export commodities was us $3.20763 billion.

Main problems existed: (1) The economic structure was not good, the proportion of traditional industries was large, the transformation of some state-owned enterprises was slow, the adaptive ability was not strong and the economic benefits were not high. (2) The quality of agricultural products was nit good, structure was nit rational and circulation not clear. (3) The employment and reemployment were gradually prominent.

8. People's life: On the basis of statistics by the end of 1997, the number of employment was 27.087 million. The total amount of salaries for the staff and workers of the whole province reached to RMB 39.1 billion, the average per person income of the peasants was RMB 2,102 and the average money wages of the staff and workers were RMB 5,401. The average consuming level of the inhabitants was RMB 2,559 in which the inhabitants in the rural areas was RMB 1,741 and RMB 4,768 in the cities and towns.

Hubei had 11,562 Hospitals and clinics, 303,800 medical technicians and 150,000 sickbeds (2.24 beds per thousand). Due to the rapid development of the productive force, the living standard of the people was constantly improved. Serious attention should be paid that in spite the rapid growth of population provided sufficient labor force for the economic construction, but also brought great pressure to the accumulation of funds, consumption, traffic, housing and employment. The effective control of population and constant improvement of the people’s living standard were the two closely related problems.

9. Education: On the basis of statistics by the end of 1997, Hubei had 54 schools of higher learning, 25,825 teachers and 196,771 students. It had 283 special secondary schools, 20,150 teachers and 422,743 students. There were 3,409 ordinary middle schools, 179,388 teachers and 2,804,850 students and 27,570 primary schools, 283,212 teachers and 7,184,879 pupils. In a word, the cultural composition of population in Hubei developed to a higher level, it was most sharply manifested that the number of ten thousand university students increased several times and the proportion of educated population constantly increased. This was the result of paying attention to the educational development, the full understanding of the people to the effect of scientific, technic and cultural knowledge for increasing the productive forces and it was also the result that since the reform and the opening up to the outside world, with the development for various fields of social economy, new demands put forward for the educational quality of population.

1. Population Situation:

1. Size and distribution:

The total population in Hubei was 58.73 million. The population density was big and the population distribution had four outstanding characteristics: (1) The population distribution had its rules, it was dense in the middle and sparse in the marginal areas, it gradually became weaker from the center-south to south-east, north-east, north and south parts and concided with the incomplete basin widely opening to the south of Hubei. (2) The number of population was net evenly distributed in regions, it was dense in the east and sparse in the west and the structure of the total population was more population in the east and less in the west. (3) The population mainly distributed in the plane and hilly areas and to gather in the plane areas and it had something to do with the natural environmental and topographic features. (4) Big regional gap in population density, big gaps in southeast and northwest parts of Hubei, in the prefectures, municipalities and counties and also in different types of topography. The population growth in the cities and towns was faster, but absolute superiority of population was still in the rural areas and the proportion of population was roughly 3 to 7 between the urban and rural areas. Hubei is a multi-national province, there are 50 ethnic groups and Tujia, Miao, Hui, Dong and Man nationalities whose population was above ten thousand each.

2. Review of population development history:

To look from the population development process since the founding of new China, the changes of the total population could be divided into five stages:

The first stage (1949-1958): It was the first birth peak period in Hubei since the founding of new China. 5.6453 million people increased in 9 years, the average growth per year was 627,300 and the average annual growth rate was 2.22%. The second stage (1959-1961): It was a slow population growth period, 374,900 increased in 3 years, the average growth per year was 125,000 and the annual growth rate was 0.40%. The third stage (1962-1971): It was the second birth peak period. 9.4889 million increased in 10 years, the average growth per year was 949,000 and the annual growth rate was 2.64%. The fourth stage (1972-1985): It was the period forms the blind to the planned control development. 7.9902 million increased in 14 years, the average growth per year was 570,700 and the average annual growth rate was 1.27%. The fifth stage (1986-1990): The population of the whole province increased from 49.3097 million in 1985 to 53.9705 million in 1990, 4.6608 million increased in 5 years, the average growth per year was 932,200 and the average annual growth rate was 1.82%.

It could be seen from the above population development process that after the founding of new China, the fluctuation range at various stages for the changes of total population in Hubei was wide, it mainly manifested in the two periods of non-planned (1959-1971) and planned (1972-1990) population development. If calculated according to the birth rate (29‰) in 1997, 8 million births less in the whole province in 20 years from 1971 to 1990 and it showed the tremendous achievements made by Hubei on family planning work.

3. Population Structure by Sex and Age:

After the founding of China, the total population ratio in most of the years remained at about 105-106 and the sex ratio was stable and normal. At the First Population Census in 1953, the sex ratio was 106.49, it was 105.51, at the Second Population Census in 1964, 105.54 at the Third Population Census in 1982 and 106.45 at the Fourth Population Census in 1990. The differences of the sex ratio at the above four population censuses was no more than 1%. But gaps of the population sex ratio between the urban and rural areas and among regions existed, there were some differences in the sex ratio by ages, the sex ratio of babies and infants was a bit high and the sex ratio of aged population rose. The number of population from the age of 0-14 was (6.292 million, 39.846 million form the age of 15-64, 3.54 million at the age of 65 and above. The total dependency ratio was 49.77%, the dependency ratio of the youth was 40.89% and the dependency ratio of the aged was 8.88%.

4. Fertility Level and Changes:

Hubei was one of the provinces with more and concentrated population in China. Its population growth experienced the process from the blind to planned births. There were 1.3215 million births from 1 July 1989 to 30 June 1990, the birth rate was 24.70‰ and it was 3.50‰ higher than the average level of the whole country. After the founding of China, there were two birth peaks and busts for the changes of birth rate, the first birth peak was from 1954 to 1958 and the birth rate reached to 30.08‰. The second firth peak was from 1962 to 1971 and the birth rate reached to 34.53‰. The bust of population growth was in the period of 3 consecutive years of natural calamities from 1959 to 1961 and the birth rate reduced to 23.31‰. The population development moved forward from the serious loss of control to the orbit of planned births from 1972 to 1984 and the birth rate reduced to 20.87‰. The birth rate was 14.81‰ and the natural increase rate was 8.12‰ in 1997. But due to the influence of population born in the second birth peak, the birth rate still reached to 24.70‰ in 1990, especially more births in the broad rural areas were serious. At present Hubei was in the third birth peak and the population control work needed to be further strengthened.

5. Mortality and Life Expectancy:

The mortality rate was 7.76‰ in 1981, 6.90‰ in 1990, 6.69‰ in 1997 and it was in reducing trend.

The average life expectancy of the male population at the age of zero was 66.14 in 1990 and 2.29 increased than 63.98 in 1981. The average life expectancy of the female population was 69.72 and 2.54 increased than 76.18 in 1981. The growth speed of the life expectancy for the female population was faster than the male. The average life expectancy of the total population increased 0.25 at average per year.

6. Marriage Status, Family Size and Type:

The data of the Fourth population Census in 1990 showed that the number of population at the age of 15 and above was 38.6138 million, there were 9.3923 million unmarried accounting to 24.32%, 26.5218 million with spouses accounting to 68.68%, 2.4860 million bereft of spouses accounting to 6.44%, 213,700 divorced accounting to 0.56%. Compared with the Third Population Census in 1982, the proportion of unmarried population reduced to 4.98%, and the proportion of population with spouses rose to 6.13%, the proportion of population bereft of spouses reduced to 1.08% and the proportion of divorced population rose to 0.08%.

There were 43.386 million population at the age of 15 or above in 1997, 22.01 million for the male and 21.375 million for the female, among them the unmarried male was 4.79million, the female was 2.961 million, males of the first marriage with spouses were 15.809 million, the female was 16.261 million, the remarried male with spouses was 341,000 and the female was 375,000, the divorced male was 215,000 and the female was 91,000, the male bereft of spouses was 856,000 and female was 1.687 million. It could be seen from the comparative results on the data of the Third and Fourth Population Census that the average family size was 4.01 persons in 1990, it was 0.52 less than 1982 and the reducing range was 11.48%. The proportion of growth speed between the family households and the number of population in the families was 28.88%: 14.05% from 1982 to 1990.

The proportion of families with one generation, two and three generations were 11.73%, 65.25% and 23.02% respectively in 1982, 10.38%, 68.15% and 21.47% in 1990. The proportion of families with three generations and one generation reduced, the proportion of families with two generations went up and the proportion of families with one generation and two generations was larger in the urban than it was in the rural areas.

7. Aging of Population:

The total aged population increased much. There was 3.8129 million aged population at the age of 60 and above in the Third population Census in 1982, it increased to 4.4978 million in 1990 census, 684,900 increased in 8 years and 17.96% increased. Among 4.4978 million aged population, the aged people in the low age group (60-79) was 4.2323 million accounting to 94.10% and the aged people in the high age group (80-99) was 265,200 accounting to 5.90%. The aged people in the super-high age group (100 and above) was 208 in 1990 and it was 1.29 times increased than 91 in 1982. There were differences in population aging between the urban and rural areas and among regions. With the development of commodity economy and the increase of floating population, most of them were the young and middle aged people who moved from the rural areas to cities and towns and the proportion of aged population was larger in the rural areas. The unmarried rate of the aged population was low, the spouse-bereaving rate was high and the spouse-bereaving rate of the aged female was much higher than the aged male. With the rise of age for the aged population, the proportion of divorced rate reduced. There were 814,100 employed old people at the age of 60 and above in 1982, 1.3019 million in 1990, 487,800 increased in 8 years and 59.92% increased. Among 1.3019 million people, 977,500 were male accounting to 75.08%, 324,400 were female accounting to 24.92%. There were obvious gaps for the employed population of the aged between the urban and rural areas and among industries. Most of the employed aged people were engaged in the primary industry (agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery), then in tertiary industry and rarely in secondary industry.

8. Population Quality:

According to the fourth Population Census in 1990 there were 46.7701 million population at the age of 6 and above accounting to 86.66% of the total population in which 37.4793 million population with above middle and primary school educational level accounting to 69.44% of the total population and 80.14% of the population at the age of 6 and above. In the population with educational level, 844,900 people received university (including college) education accounting to 2.25%, 4.7853 million received senior middle school (including specialized secondary school) education accounting to 12.78%, 12.4975 million received junior middle school education accounting to 33.35% and 19.3516million received primary school education accounting to 51.63%. The population received primary school and above education occupied 80.28% in 1997 and 2.44% increased than it was in 1996. There were 54.705 million population at the age of 6 and above, among them the number of population who received college and above education, senior and junior middle school and primary school education were 1.854 million, 6.333 million, 17 million and 22.732 million respectively. There were 6.786 million illiterates and semi-illiterates. The educational level of male population was obviously higher than the female, but with the development of social economy, the gap of the educational level between male and female was gradually narrowed.

There was 43.386 population at the age of 15 and above in 1997, 6.53 million were illiterates and semi-illiterates accounting to 15.05% of the population at the age of 15 and above in which the male illiterates took 8.29% and the female with 22.02%.

9. Migration and Population Floating:

Hubei was one of the regions with active population migration and it was also an important region for in-migration . In the 37 years from 1954 to 1990, the total number of migration population was 59.3223 million, the total migration rate was 39.2‰, 30.5901 million in-migrated and the in-migration rate was 20.21‰. 28.7322 million out-migrated and the out-migration rate was 18.99‰. The net in-migrated population was 1.8579 million and the net in-migration rate was 1.22‰. It was a period of constant deepening for the reform and opening up to the outside world form 1982 to 1990, the average annual number of migration was 1.8063 million and it was equal to 116% of the migration number average per year in 37 years. The population migration mainly moved to the urban areas and few to the rural areas. The main reasons for the migration: work transfer, assignments and employment's, engagement in industries and trade, study and training, living with relatives and friends, withdrawing from office and retirement, family members who followed with the migration, in-migration due to marriages and so on.

Compared the floating population in 1990 with 1982, the increasing range was above 5%. The floating population was mainly agricultural population moving to cities, and they were mainly engaged in industries and trade (accounting to about 60%).

10. Population, Resource and Environment:

Hubei is a province with more population and less land, the average areas of arable lands and forests per person were 0.97 mu and 1.33 mu respectively in 1990 (the average arable lands per person were 2.16 mu), the present state and trend with increased population and decreased land formed a great pressure to the limited arable lands. The soil suffered numerous erosions, illegal reclamation, the felling of trees and grazing and the water losses and soil erosion was also serious. The contradiction between the supply and demands for the water and energy resources was further intensified due to the constant growth of population. With the rapid growth of population, the atmospheric, waste water, flotsam and jetsam and noise pollution were serious day by day. The polluted environment again affect the normal production and life activities and health of the people. Especially the rapid growth of population caused constant expansion of demands for social materials with strong demands from the natural world. The natural ecology was seriously worsened and it caused restricted effect for the survival of the people. Great attention was paid to the environmental protection work in 1997.The necessary monitoring and harnessing to the water quality of big rivers were carried out and enterprises with serious pollution to the environment were closed, stopped and banned in limited period in order to maintain the harmonious development of economy, society and environment.

1. Family planning

After the founding of new China, the family planing work underwent roughly four development periods:

1. From the blind population development to the start of publicizing family planning(1956-1961)

From 1949 to 1953 2.2606 million population increased in 4 years and the average annual progressive increase speed was 2.21%. It was the first peak period of population development from 1956 to 1958. The total population increased from 28.967 million to 31.467 million and the average annual progressive speed was 2.80%.

The Chinese leaders Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai both made important instructions on practicing family planning from 1956 to 1957. From then on the publicity and public health departments of the whole province started to publicize family planning in the masses. But started from 1958 due to the influence of the “left” deviationist error plus the serious natural calamities from 1959-1961, the family planning work was put aside.

2. The rise and setbacks of family planning work(1962-1970).

The national economy in Hubei restored rapidly in 1962. The speed of population growth was very fast, the birth rate reached to 42.52‰ and the natural increase rate reached to 33.75‰. The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and the State Council issued 《Instructions on earnestly advocating family planning》in 1962. In October same year the Hubei Provincial Committee set up a leading group for family planning .

On 25 October 1963 the Provincial Committee issued 《Opinions on further development of family planning drafted by the Provincial Family Planning Leading Group approved by the Provincial Committee and Provincial People’s Committee》and regulations on family planning policy were made. In 1965 the family planning work was carried out in succession in the urban and rural areas. At that time the emphasis was in the cities and densely populated areas and mainly grasping the publicity and education and fostering and setting examples. The Family Planning Leading Groups were set up one by one in the prefectures, municipalities and counties.

After the start of “cultural revolution”, the family planning work suffered disturbance and sabotage, the population growth was in the lost of control status and it caused the second birth peak starting from 1962 and remained for more than 12 years. The total number of births in the whole province were 14.8254 million in 12 years from 1962 to 1973. The total population increased from 31.8296 million in early 1962 to 42.1566 million by the end of 1972 and the average annual progressive increase rate was 23.69‰.

3. Energetic development period for family planning work(1971-1978).

In July 1971 the State Council approved 《Report on doing well the family planning work》drafted jointly by Ministries of Public Health, Commerce and Fuel Chemical Industry. Soon afterwards Hubei Province issued a document on the family planning work and arranged the work to the prefectures, municipalities and counties. On 11 August same year the decision was made for setting up family planning leading groups . In October same year a meeting on the provincial family planning work with the participation of all county leaders and they were requested to do well the family planning work and late marriage of youths at the meeting and definitely set force the birth policy of “one was not less, two were just enough and three were more” . Starting from 1973 the provincial population development was brought into the provincial planning of national economy. In 1974 the natural increase rate reduced to 14.36‰ in Hubei and fulfilled one year in advance the demands of population growth no more than 15‰ put forward by the state during the Fourth Five Year Plan period.

Starting from early 1970s, the work on family planning, late marriage and late birth had laid certain foundation in the broad masses.

4. New period of development for family planning work (1979-1993).

1. The reproductive concept of the masses had been changed. By the end of 1993 there were 1.6136 million couples who volunteered to have only one child in their life-time. There were also a big batch of families who met the terms of having the second child positively gave them up.
2. The average age for the first marriages of the child-bearing age women was gradually raised. According to the nationwide sample survey on 1‰ population fertility rate in 1982, the average age for the first marriages of the child-bearing age women was 18.04 in the 1950s, 19.21 in 1960s, 21.56 in 1970s and 22.30 in 1980s.
3. The woman fertility level reduced in a large scale. The total fertility rate per woman in the province was 7.63 in 1962, 6.04 in 1970, 2.50 in 1979 and 2.10 in 1993.
4. The birth rate and natural increase rate dramatically decreased in the province. The birth rate was between 26.34‰ and 30.98‰ in 1950s, and between 27.34‰ and 42.51‰ in 1960s (except the year 1960). From early 1970s with the start of energetically promoting family planning, the birth rate and natural increase rate obviously decreased. Compared with 1993 and 1971 the birth rate decreased from 31.11‰ to 20.04‰ and the natural increase rate decreased from 22.72‰ to 13.11‰.
5. The social and economic benefits were remarkable. Since the strong development of family planning work from early 1970s, there were 9.8 million births less in the whole province and it greatly eased the burden of social economy.

1. 《Century-Crossed China Population》(Hubei Volume)China Statistics Publishing House 1994
2. 《China Statistics Year Book》Volume 1998
3. 《Atlas of the People’s Republic of China by Province》China Map Publishing House 1999.
4. 《China Population Year Book 》Volume 1998.
5. 《China Family Planning Year Book》Volume 1995, China Family Planning Year Book Editing Committee 1995.
6. 《Hubei Statistics Year Book》Volume 1998, China Statistics Publishing House 1998.

Return