Children with Mental Disorders on the Increase

Due to a number of factors, Chinese adolescents with mental disorders are on the increase, according toexperts. A survey in Shanghai showed that 17.66% of the 3,000 children interviewed had mental problems of different kinds. In Nanjing and Beijing, childrenwith psychological problems accounted for 21% and 11.6% of the patients at the outpatient department for child mental disease. Cai Yiming, a noted psychologist specializing inchild mental disease, pointed out that hyperactivity is a typ…     

DINK Families Increase In Shanghai

A recent survey conducted by the Shanghai Women抯 Federation showed that DINK (double income no kids) families make up 12.4% of the total number of households in Shanghai. According to Prof. Sun Zhongxin from the Department of Sociology of Fudan University who was in charge of the survey, 1,200 couples of different age groups were selected for the survey. If the survey had covered only the 20-40 age group, the proportion would have been even higher, Sun said. A survey conducted by anot…     

A Survey on Protection of Children''''s Rights

Commissioned by UNFPA, a team of researchers from China Population Information and Research Center (CPIRC) conducted a baseline survey for the project of Publicity and Education on Children's Rights in Huangpi District of Wuhan, Hubei Province and Luxian County, Luzhou City, Sichuan Province from April 24-30, 2001. Altogether, 718 married people of childbearing age who were evenly distributed in terms of sex were interviewed. By understanding the knowledge, attitude and practice o…     

Disability of Children A Serious Issue

A national survey jointly conducted by the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Public Security, China Federation of the Disabled, National Statistical Bureau and UNICEF in 2001 among 60,000 children, aged 0-6 and with disability, showed that nationwide, there were roughly a total of 1.395 million children with disability and 199,000 were added to the total number each year. Based on the 2000 national population census, the survey estimated that of these children with disability, 1.07 milli…     

UN Reports Lack of AIDS Knowledge among Adolescents

On July 2, 2002, UNICEF, UNAIDS and WHO jointly published a report, pointing out that the majority of young people in the world lacked awareness about the danger of AIDS and knew little about the possible channels for AIDS transmission and how to prevent it. Entitled 揂dolescents and AIDS: Opportunity amid Crisis? this report, for the first time, made a thorough survey of the lifestyles of people aged 15-24 and their thinking about AIDS. The survey in 60 countries showed that mor…     

Higher Public Tolerance Toward AIDS

As AIDS takes its toll in China, public awareness of AIDS is increasing and attitude toward AIDS becoming more tolerant. Officials with the Beijing Public Health Bureau announced that the number of HIV carriers now reaches two per 10,000 people. The city has a permanent population of over 10 million. A recent survey of 200 households in Beijing found that 57% of those polled said they would understand and care for AIDS patients regardless of the cause; 44% were sympathetic; 3…     

An Evaluation of the Impact of the Integrated Project on Rural Women from a Gender Perspective

In July 2000 and May and June 2001, a group of experts from China Population Information and Research Center and Nanjing College of Population Management conducted assessment surveys in Tumote Qian Banner (Inner Mongolia), Longhua (Hebei), Jinchuan (Gansu), Pingyao (Shanxi) and Minhe (Qinghai) for the International Integrated Project (FP/MCH/parasite control) that was jointly implemented by JOICFP, SFPC and China Family Planning Association. They obtained plenty of firsthand …     

Support for the Elderly under the Market Transition in China

Modernization theory predicts loosening family ties and the gradual decline of family supports for the elderly. In a transitional economy,we argue that the rapidly growing income for adult children helps to maintain family supports for the elderly at a high level.Data from 2005 China’s 1%population survey shows that half of elderly people in towns or rural areas relied on family supports as the main source for living.The odds-ratio from Logistic regression shows that family supports were far greater for females than males and far greater for rural than for urban residents.Labor migration by a rural household member greatly enhanced the odds of family supports for the elderly in rural areas.In the cities,we found that the odds of family supports were the highest in the well-developed regions along the coast.As the population is rapidly aging, more government efforts are needed to expand socialized supports for the elderly, especially to the weakest.     

Household Registration System Relaxes but Still in Effect

China will continue its effort to reform the household registration system (Hukou) that has been in effect for decades. The ultimate goal is that all citizens who have a legal permanent residence, a stable job and source of income can have their Hukou registered with local public security department, according to a senior official with the Ministry of Public Security of China. At a news briefing given by the Public Security Ministry on February 25, 2002, Bao Suixian, Deputy-Director of t…     

Unbalanced Sex Ratio at Birth

The fifth census conducted in 2000 revealed that an unbalanced sex ratio at birth (116.86) remained a problem in China, about 10 percentage points higher than the normal level of 103-107. The ratio had kept increasing in recent years: 108.5 in the third census in 1982, 110.9 in the 1% sampling survey in 1987, 111.3 in the fourth census in 1990, 115.6 in the 1% sampling survey in 1995 and nearly 116.9 in 2000. The census found that except for Tibet and Xinjiang, all provinces, municipalitie…     

Farmers''''Income Sees Highest Increase

The National Bureau of Statistics said that the average annual income for farmers reached 2,936 yuan (US$355) in 2004, up 12%t over the previous year. Their income growth rate was 6.8% in real terms, the highest increase since 1997, according to the bureau's sampling survey. Income from agricultural production accounted for a great portion of the growth. In 2004, agricultural production income per rural household rose by an average of 13.3% to 1,746 yuan (US$211). Wage income also contri…     

Income Gap Widens in Beijing

The income gap between the highest- and lowest-income groups in Beijing, China’s capital city, grew to 4:1 in 2004, up from 3:1 in 2003, according to a sampling survey of 2,000 urban households conducted by the Beijing Municipal Statistics Bureau. Among the most important factors affecting income levels were education and profession, the survey indicated. The survey suggested that in 2004, the per capita disposable income of Beijing residents was RMB15,638, up 12.6% from 2003. Low-income…     

Urbanization Accelerates

Asampling survey, conducted in 1999 by the StateStatistical Bureau, of 150,000 residents in 226cities and counties indicated that China's ruralpopulation had declined to less than 70% of its totalpopulation, compared to more than 80% two decadesago.Before 1978, urban population made up only 17.9% ofChina's total population. In 1998, it increased to 30.4%.Statistics showed that in 1998, 60 million, or 5% of therural population had left their home village for morethan half a year, most of them…     

Fertility Desires Are Changing in Shanghai

In Shanghai, one of Chinas most developed cities, young people with higher education tend to desire more children than other age groups, according to a recent survey conducted by the Shanghai Population and Family Planning Commission. The survey, conducted among people aged 18-30, indicated that the number of desired children increased with the level of education. Specifically, it was 1.03 for primary schooling and below, 1.08 for junior middle schooling, 1.09 for senior middle school and s…     

General Trends of Labor Supply and Demand in China:Problems and Policy Options

From the perspective of demographic change and economic growth respectively,this paper discusses the changes of trends in labor supply and demand,and concludes that unlimited supply of labor has ended in China,which is clearly reflected in the phenomena of "difficulty in recruiting new workers". The fundamental change in the relationship between labor supply and demand does not mean the absolute shortage of labors,but it does mean that sufficient supply of labors will be determined by reasonable growth of pay for workers.The paper also explores the general situation of labor market in China,and concludes that job creation is still a priority in spite of low unemployment rate because labor participation rate has decreased for last ten years,which is a severe labor market outcome.At the same time,the structural problems in labor market are becoming more and more severe.To realize sufficient employment,it is still necessary for China to guarantee economic growth while improving job quality and increasing gains of workers from the economic growth.     

HIV/AIDS in China

Status QuoAn epidemiological survey jointly conducted by China and the WHO and UNAIDS indicates that China now has 840,000 people living with HIV/AIDS, 80,000 of whom are AIDS patients. Although this figure translates into a mere 0.6‰ of the country's total population, the total number comes the second place in Asia and the 14th in the world. The prevalence rate among adults is less than 0.1%, but the epidemic has been found in all the 31 provinces (municipalities and autonomous regions) of the country and the number of newly-infected people is increasing fast. Major methods of HIV transmission include drug-taking, blood donation (a major means of living for farmers in some impoverished regions) and sex.     

Needs of Chinese Youths forReproductive Health

As the proliferation of sexually transmitteddiseases and AIDS both in China and abroadis deteriorating, the need to educate the younggeneration on reproductive health become all themore important. To understand the level ofknowledge among teenagers regarding reproductivehealth, a team of experts with the China FamilyPlanning Association did a field survey in September1998 in Qinhuangdao, Hebei Province.MethodologyThe target population for this survey was studentsaged 12-18 and reproductiv…     

Main Findings from Survey on Knowledge of HIV/AIDS Prevention and Puberty of High School Students in Rural China

The purpose of the PO2 project is to improve the special health education on reproductive health and HIV/ AIDS prevention knowledge in classroom education in the rural junior high schools of China. Commissioned by the Ministry of Education(MOE)of China,the Center for Population and Development Studies of Renmin University of China carried out a baseline KAP survey on the subject     

Market Potential for Reproductive Health Services Huge in Rural Areas--A case study of Kaili, Guizhou Province

China is now undergoing a transition from a planned economy to a market economy. This requires family planners to reposition themselves to meet the needs of women of childbearing age for reproductive health services (including premarital examination, family planning services and maternal and child health care). To gain an understanding of the real demand and market potential for reproductive health services and constraints affecting the development of the rural market, the authors did a survey…     

Four Causes for Rapid Spread of AIDS in Shenzhen

Shenzhen, a prosperous city in southern China acrossfrom Hong Kong, reported 250 HIV cases in January-September 2004, a 136% increase over the sameperiod a year ago and 30.9% increase from 2003,according to the Shenzhen Center for Disease Control.Most Carriers Are Non-Permanent ResidentsOf the 250 cases, 95% were migrants coming from 21provinces, and only 12% had an education of seniormiddle school and above. In addition, 76.4% of thecarriers were male averaging 31 years of age.Close to…