China's population rises to 1.37 billion

China's population has increased to 1.37 billion, including 1.3397 billion in the mainland, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Thursday.

The population figure for the mainland was 73.9 million more than that of 2000, when China conducted its fifth national census, according to data from the sixth census released by the NBS.

The data show an annual average population growth of 0.57 percent over the past decade (2000-2010) on the Chinese mainland, compared with the growth rate of 1.07 percent from 1990 to 2000, indicating population growth is slowing, said Ma Jiantang, director of the NBS.

Of the total population in the mainland, men accounted for 51.27 percent, while women made up 48.73 percent.

The Chinese mainland's population living in urban areas totalled 665.57 million, representing 49.68 percent of the total, up by 13.46 percentage points on the 2000 figure, while the population classified as rural population stood at 674.15 million, said the bureau.

Source: China Daily/ANN