一、2000年人口普查面临的需求和外部环境-Paris21.docVIP

International Expert Group Meeting Mechanisms for Ensuring Continuity of 10-Year Population Censuses: Strategies for Reducing Census Costs 26-29 November 2001, Pretoria, South Africa Challenges in Census Taking in China Xiru Li Department of Population, Social Science and technology Statistics National Bureau of Statistics, China P. R. Challenges in Census Taking in China As many other countries, a new round of population census was conducted in China in the year of 2000 with zero hour 1st November as the reference time. The 2000 population census is the fifth in China’s census history since 1949. The total population of China according to the manual tabulation of this census is 1,295.33 million. Of this total, the population of the 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities and of servicemen on the mainland of China was 1,265.83 million. The data capture and computer tabulation is expected to be finished at the end of 2001. Shown by the post enumeration sample check, the under-report rate of total population is 1.81%. This testified to the fairly good quality of the census enumeration. Census is an extensive, complicated and expensive statistical exercise and is the largest social mobilization in the peacetime. Difficulty in conducting censuses in China is quite evident. The amount of work involved is enormous as China has a so large population. China has an area of 9.6 million square kilometers with certain parts of the country still not easily accessible. Economically, China is still not developed, and its various regions are uneven in development. In addition, as the first population census during the transition period from planed economy to market economy of China, The 5th population census encountered some unprecedented difficulties compared with the previous censuses since the social economic situation was changed significantly. More Demands for Census Information Following the establishment and development of China’s soci