BECAUSE FAMILY PLANNING HAS WORKED SO WELL SO FAR:

China census figures reveal ageing and urbanised country (Tania Branigan, 4/28/11, guardian.co.uk)

The figures, released today by the National Bureau of Statistics, underline the enormous challenges facing a country with a rapidly ageing population and huge demographic shifts. They also highlight arguments about the need to reform the country's strict one-child birth control policies.

The number of young people fell sharply as a proportion of the population, with under-14s accounting for just 16.6% of the population, down 6.3 percentage points from 2000. Meanwhile, the number of people over 60 rose by nearly three percentage points, to 13.3% of the total population.

China must now sustain the remarkable development that has made it the world's second largest economy with a shrinking workforce and growing number of dependents.

Officials believe that without the strict one-child policy – which actually allows many in the countryside and some in the cities to have two children – the population would have grown by an extra 400 million people over the last three decades. But it was only supposed to last for 30 years and many now believe the country needs to move towards a uniform two-child policy, to tackle the issue of ageing and perceptions of unfairness.

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