Special Coverage：China Population 
Large, Aging and Changing

Editor's note:

Take a breath. The number is always astonishingly huge whenever you think of China’s population. It will swell to 1.4 billion by the end of 2015, mobile users sent about 23 billion text messages during Chinese New Year in 2010, the number of Internet users in China has already reached 404 million, and unfortunately more than 24 million Chinese men of marrying age may find it difficult to find a partner by 2020.

The problems behind the numbers seem to be bigger. In a poor village in East China’s Shandong province, visitors will see large white characters on a wall that say “it’s of the same to give birth to a boy and girl, and girl is also a heir,” an indication of local governments’ efforts in fighting against gender selection. In the Capital city of Beijing, the government also educates people to queue properly when taking a bus, not because the passengers behave badly but they are under pressure in finding space to stand in the crowded bus.

As World Population Day is observed on July 11, the China Daily website provides special coverage of China’s population to briefly discuss the various problems in the world’s most populous country, such as the left-behind children, empty nesters, family-planning policy, the much-debated hukou policy, and younger migrant workers who have a growing sense of civil rights.??

China's population set to reach 1.4 billion by 2015 

China's population is projected to reach 1.4 billion by the end of 2015, when the urban population will become the majority for the first time. The first boom in China's aging population is expected over the next five years, when those aged 60 or over will top 200 million.

350m migrant workers by 2050

China's population of floating migrant workers reached a record 211 million by 2009 and will hit 350 million by 2050 if government policies remain unchanged. The number, however, could increase at a slower rate if the number of new workers joining the migrant population continues to fall each year.

Henan to become the first 100M population province

Central China’s Henan province will become the nation’s first province with a population of 100 million people, according to the Henan Population and Family Planning Commission, Dahe News, a local newspaper reported

Left-behind children 

Students take a nap at an elementary school in Qiannan, Southwest China's Guizhou province, May 25, 2010. Most of the 102 students in the school are separated from their parents who migrate to work in big cities and send money back.? 

Five pupils attempted to commit suicide by drinking herbicide.Four of them are left-behind children in rural areas

There are about 58 million children, including 40 million under the age of 14, who are left behind with senior members of the families, according to separate studies by the All- China Women's Federation and Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security

It's hard to say whether this is the best time to be a child in China especially after a string of school attacks recently that cut deep into people’s sense of security.?The following photos, all related to Chinese children, try to outline the big picture about growing up in China.

 Aging Society and Empty Nesters

New Generation of Migrant Workers

24 million men unable to find spouses Low birth rates of women in China may be to blame for some 24 million men failing to find a spouse in 2020, according to a report.

Marriage, Money and Morals
From arranged marriages to blind dates, building a family in China is an evolving process driven by political change, economic development, and social trends.

Rural healthcare system has cracks
As the Chinese government continues to reform rural healthcare, some villagers are still falling through the cracks.