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Population growth leads experts to fear for environment XINING: China's Northwest, the largest and least populated of the country's six geographical regions, is suffering from an increasingly heavy population burden. "The Northwest region's population is growing at the fastest pace in the country, and its population as a proportion of the national total has risen consistently. This exerts great pressure on ecology, resources and the environment," said Zhang Weiqing, minister of the National Population and Family Planning Commission at a recent Northwest China Forum on Population and Development. According to a report on the northwestern region's population and development, the area, comprising the three provinces of Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai and two autonomous regions Ningxia and Xinjiang, saw a 15.37 per thousand population growth rate in the period of 1982-2000, when the fifth national census was conducted 14.6 per cent higher than the national level. The population as a proportion of the national total rose from 6.5 per cent in the early 1970s to 7.2 per cent in 2003. Its current population is 90 million. The number, say demographers, will easily exceed 100 million by 2015 if the population continues to grow at its current rate. A relaxed family planning policy has partially contributed to the population increase, as about 20 per cent of its residents are from ethnic minorities, who generally have two, three or even more children. More importantly, low productivity and a mainly agriculture or husbandry-based economy have underlined the importance of the traditional maxim of "more children, more secure old age." According to the report by the China Population and Development Research Centre, the gross domestic product (GDP) of the northwest region accounted for only 5.42 per cent of the national economy and residents of 143 out of 592 counties in the region on average live below the poverty line. In 2003, only Gansu and Xinjiang saw their average schooling length above the national level of 7.86 years, with Qinghai the lowest at 6.67 years. Rapid population growth has exerted a strain on resources in the region, the report said, where the average water consumption stood at 846.12 cubic metres per capita, twice the national level in 2003. Overgrazing has damaged the ecological environment as over 90 per cent of grassland has deteriorated in the region. The region's arable land is also expected to fall by 4 million hectares from 2005 to 2020, meaning yearly grain output could fall by 2.3 million tons. "We need to keep the population growth rate at a low level and transform China from a populous country into a country enjoying sound population development," said Jiang Zhenghua, vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. Demographers suggest in the report that a long-term interest-oriented mechanism should be established to give more financial support to the people, the poor in particular, who have fewer children and ensure the regional population is less than 99 million by 2010. Meanwhile, they called on the government to increase financial input to expand access to compulsory education, improve the labour market information system and develop industries so as to create more job opportunities. (China Daily 08/16/2005 page5)
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