ABSTRACT

The period since 1990 has been one of continuing rapid change both in the world at large and in China in particular. Although awareness of the need to control population growth was nothing new, it certainly remained centre stage as the twentieth century gave way to the twenty-first. The United Nations chose 12 October 1999 as the day symbolising the arrival of the planet at a population of 6 billion, and designated a particular infant as the world’s 6 billionth inhabitant. There has also been increasing awareness of the need to stop the population growing too fast in order to be able to protect the environment better and at the same time enhance the prosperity of the world’s people.