Tianjin
I. Basic Figures
Tianjin is one the four cities under the direct administration of the central government and one important economic center in North China. By the end of 1997, the total population of permanent residents in it is 9,525,900. With the high concentration of industrial and social activities, Tianjin presents great attraction to people, taking on the feature of the uneven distribution of population evident in big cities. Most of the population lives in the city proper and most of those in the city proper live in downtown districts. The population density in downtown districts is relatively high. The population in coastal areas is relatively concentrated in Tanggu, Hangu and Dagang districts. The population density is higher in plain area than in mountainous area and that in high plain is greater than that in low plain. There is a trend that the population density in the bank areas down along the flow of rivers is higher that in the bank up against the flow of rivers. A trend is emerging that the population is being concentrated in areas along rivers.
Since the foundation of the PR.China, the administrative layout of Tianjin went through several changes and hence the changes in the total population, presenting the difficulty in measuring the actual change in the total population. The change in Tianjin’s total population shows the general trend of the steady growth in absolute number and of the relative increase. The changes experienced the following three stages: the first stage (1949-1964) saw the rapid growth of the total population by 3.03% each year; the second stage (1965-1979) witnessed the slow growth of the total population at the annual rate of 1.06% and in the third stage ( 1980 to present time) the population grows steadily. From 1980 to 1990, the annual growth rate was 1.27%. Since 1990, the annual growth rate keeps at the rate lower than 0.8%. The population situation maintains the positive trend that it grows at a steady and slow speed.
The general sex ratio of the Tianjin population has always been around 100:102. The sex ratio does not change much and the ratio value is small, ranking low among the 30 provinces of the country. According to the statistics from the sample survey in 1997, in the current 9,678,000 population, the 0-14 group has the population of 1,934,000, taking up 19.98% of the total population; the 15-64 group 6,929,000, accounting for 71.59% and the 65 and above group has the population of 815,000, constituting 8.4% of the total population. The overall dependence coefficient is 39.68% with the children dependence coefficient being 27.91% and the elderly dependence coefficient being 11.77%. The mean age in the population is 34.87 years old.
Tianjin is one of the cities implementing the population program at an earlier time. During the period between the mid of the 60’s when the family planning was advocated and the end of the 80’s, the population development has been well on a planned track. With the unique environment enjoyed by the big city, the total fertility rate of Tianjin couples declines very rapidly. Since 1989, the reproduction of the Tianjin population has been relatively at the steady and low level. The fluctuation trend in the total fertility has been characterized by the low level and high imbalance between districts.
The birth rate of the Tianjin population has been on the decrease since 1993 and reached the record low over 90’s in 1997. The main reasons are 1) the decrease of women’s fertility year after year and 2) the achievement made in the family planning program.
In the 80’s, the size of the died population in Tianjin is 454,600, 1200 less than that of 455,800 in 70’s, showing a smaller scale of died population in 1980’s. The mortality rate in Tianjin has been steady at 0.6%. Since 1993, there has appeared a rising trend due a large part to the aging population with more people entering into old age each year.
The regularly made statistics shows that over the 10 years in 80’s, the life expectancy of Tianjin has considerably improved. The average life expectancy at birth has increased from 70.70 in 1980 to 74.44 in 1991.
The sample survey in 1997 on the change of the population shows the following change in the marital status of the Tianjin population: the increase in the proportion of the unmarried population, the decrease in the proportion the population without spouses and the slight increase of the divorced and widowed population.
In 1997, among the 7,744,000 population of the 15 and above group, the male population was 3,818,000 and the female 3,926,000. The unmarried men numbered 671,000 and the unmarried women 538,000. Men of the first marriage having spouses totaled 2,918,000 and women 2,989,000. The number of men of the non-first marriage having spouses was 61,000 and women 56,000. There were 41,000 divorced men and 26,000 divorced women. Widowed men totaled 127,000 and widowed women 317,000.
With the decrease in fertility and natural population growth, aging is gradually speeding up. According the residential records, the population of 65 and above rose by net 17,200 from 760,800 in 1996 to 778,000 in 1997, up 2.26%. The figure in 1997 is 185,900 higher than that of 1990, up 31.40%. The percentage of the 65 and above population accounts for 8.65% of the total population, 0.18% and 1.81% higher respectively than that in 1996 and 1997. The ration between the elderly ( 65 and above) and the young ( 14 and below) rose from 43.36 in 1996 to 46.63%. The rise of this ratio shows that the number of the elderly to be supported is becoming bigger, leading to the increase in the elderly dependence coefficient from 11.76% in 1996 to 11.88%. The mean age in the population went up from 34.18 in 1996 to 34.87.
With the development of education and the change in the population age structure, the education level of the population is improving. According to the sample survey in 1997 on changes in population, the educated population of 6 and above takes up 85.38% of the total population, 5.75% and 0.91% higher than the figure obtained from the fourth census in 1990 and that from the sample survey in 1996 respectively. The illiterate population of 15 and above declined by 1.09% and 0.57% respectively. Those figures show the overall education of the total population has improved.
With regard to the mix of the education level, the percentage of the various educated groups as against the total population is as follows: college and above, 6.82%; high school, 17.88%; middle high school, 32.56% and primary school, 28.11%. The education level of the population is moving upward.
The residential statistics show that both the outflow and inflow migrating population in 1997 increased to different extent over those in 1996. On balance, there was a net inflow migrants of 10,500. A decrease of 45.08% occurred compared with the net annual inflow migrants of 19,300 during the “ Eighth Five Years”, indicating that with the development of the market economy, the migration of permanent residents became more active and that the gap between the outflow and the inflow migration is narrowing. By district, the migration features in Tianjin are as follows: 1) The bulk of both outflow and inflow migration take place in the downtown districts; 2) Other districts rank second in terms of the net inflow migration and 3) Binhai District and other five suburb counties experienced the net outflow migration due to the increase in outflow migration.
Since the 80’s, the scale of migration has been expanding considerably characterized by the rapid growth rate, the large percentage of economically active migration and the long period of residence. The inflow migrants constitute one-tenth of the total population in Tianjin.
Tianjin is not rich in land, water and mineral resources. The rapid growth of population worsens the relative lack of resources in Tianjin. It is one of the heavily polluted areas. In recent years, some progress has been made in the protection of environment and the environment quality has been maintained steady. In the 1997 appraisal of 37 cities with regard to the comprehensive management of city environment, Tianjin was appraised as one of “the ten best” once again.
The family planning program in Tianjin was started in 1950’s and has gone through four stages in its winding course to date. From the end of 80’s to the early 90’s, the total population is on the way of growing in a planned fashion and the reproductive pattern has completed transition towards the modern one, creating an enabling environment for the economic and social development.
After the liberation of Tianjin in 1949, thanks to the social stability, the improvement of people’s living standard and the restrictions on health facilities for provision of services for regulation of fertility, the birth growth rate substantially went up. In 1956 IEC campaign for contraception was first conducted reaching wide audience. By the end of 1957, the family planning rate reached as high as around 20%.
In 1958, because of the wide advocacy for “ more people bringing more benefits” and of the incorrect of criticism of the new theory raised by Mr. Ma Yinchu on population, the newly started family planning program in Tianjin was interrupted resulting in little limit to the population growth of Tianjin in the 50’s and the early 60’s.
2. The implementation of the family planning program in the 60’s and its setback
In the wake of the difficult economic period in 1961, from 1962 to 1963, Tianjin went through the compensatory baby boom with the growth rate in 1963 being as high as 4.061%, arresting much societal attention. The Tianjin Municipality decided to implement some contraceptive measures and allow abortion, playing an important part in deepening the family planning program. In particular, the practice of abortion free of charge was acknowledged and praised by Chairman Mao. In 1964, the Tianjin Municipality and Tianjin People’s Committee issued the “Directive on Implementing Family Planning Program among the Farmers of Suburbs”. Since then, the family planning program in Tianjin was expanded to rural areas and made noticeable achievements. From 1964 on, the birth growth rate went down substantially and to 1.805% in 1967 with 0.986% in urban areas and 2.837% in suburbs. In the second half of 1966, due to the Cultural Revolutionary, the family planning program was paralyzed and it faced drawbacks in the following several years.
In the early 70’s, the family planning program was undertaken in both rural and urban areas in Tianjin with the following characteristics: 1) putting emphasis of IEC on the instruction by Chairman Mao concerning family planning; 2) implementing the education program on the Marxist theory and popularizing knowledge on population and life science; 3) promoting good examples and their demonstrative roles; 4) further making clear the family planning policy and 5) attaching importance to the set-up of the network for family planning services and to the scientific research in the field of family planning.
Since the 80’s, the comprehensive family planning program was implemented and has been bettered with the following features:
From 1981 on, the population plan has been integrated into the city overall social and economic development plan. Every year, the City Family Planning Commission issues demographic goal to each district and county. Toward the end of 1990, on the basis of the analysis of the goal-oriented family planning management, adjustments were made to improve the management, giving rise to more realistic goals for responsible management.
Since the 80’s, the IEC on family planning has been implemented in depth leading to the emergence of a new situation. Social publicizing was conducted on a large scale and comprehensive population education was carried out. The information on family planning has been widely disseminated.
Since the 80’s, the population of reproductive age has increased rapidly and hence more work for provision of contraceptive services and technical guidance. To meet with the needs for family planning services, more effort has been made to strengthen the technical force and to reform the management of contraceptives. Besides, more research has been conducted on family planning.
In the 80’s, the post pregnancy family planning services has been gradually replaced with the pre pregnancy services at the grass root level in Tianjin. The family planning services are well on the way of being standardized.
When it entered into 80’s, NGOs on family planning and population came into existence and they made contributions to the implementation of family planing program. Family Planning Associations at various levels assisted the government and the family planning departments in implementing IEC activities among the public. As a result, there has emerged a situation that the public chooses the approach of self-management, self-education and self-service, enhancing the implementation of the family planning program.
Since the 80’s, the Tianjin Family Planning Commission has increasingly made active measures to have cooperation with the outside.
5.The Accomplishment Made in 1998 in the Field of Family Planning
The figure above shows that the Tianjin population situation has been kept steady and that the level of provision of family planning services is upgraded. They are reflected in the rise of family planning rate year after year despite its already high family planning rate, the decrease in abortion cases every year and the rise of comprehensive contraception rate. Clearly, provision of pre pregnant family planning services is improving in each year.
In 1998, the Tianjin Municipality placed emphasis on the following five aspects:
In the past 40 years, the family planning program of Tianjin has made remarkable achievements as follows:
In 11 years out of the 14 years between 1950 and 1953, the birth rate was above 3.22%. Since the implementation of the family planning program in 1963, the birth rate was continuously declining, leading to the slowing down of the population. Comparison between periods of time with and without family program is that during the 15 years from 1949 to 1963, the average annual population growth is 141,900, 72,700 during the 15 years from 1964-1978 and 107,700 during the 15 years from 1979-1993.
2. With the substantial decrease in women’s total fertility rate is realized the transformation of the population reproduction towards modern type. After 1950, the fertility rate of Tianjin women in every five years is as follows: 1950, 5.38; 1955, 6.04; 1960, 4.67; 1965, 3.76; 1970, 3.31; 1975, 1.94; 1980, 1.35; 1986, 1.65 and 1990, 1.61. The figures above show that since the 80’s, the total fertility rate of women in Tianjin has been below the replacement level.
3. The Rising of Family Planning Rate
The first formal statistics in 1973 on family planning shows that the family planning rate of that year was 65.34%; between 1973 and 1976, the family planning rate was below 70%; 70% and 80% during the period from 1977 to 1979; From 1980 to 1981, it was above 80% and below 90%. Since 1982, it has risen above 90% and reached as high as 98.27% in 1997.
The proportion of the population of the 0-14 group is declining. The figure of it in the four censuses was 35.74%, 43.12%, 24.18% and 22.71% respectively. The mean age of the population is rising. It was 25.49, 24.16, 30.33 and 31.75 respectively as found out in the four censuses. The bottom of the pyramid of population age began to shrink, showing that the population growth rate is shifting from rising to stabilizing and even to declining.
References: