ABSTRACT
In spite of ever more statistical sophistication, absolute birth numbers continue to be an indispensable item in the demographic record. Having the advantage of concreteness, they constitute an immediate datum for all population-related policy arenas. Chart 3 summarizes official figures from China since 1978. Although hailing from a period of stringent birth control, their size rivals that from former peak periods of births (average annual birth numbers 1950 to 1958: 20.49 million; 1963 to 1971: 27.00 million). This, of course, is connected to the growth of the female population of reproductive age, which offsets the drop of individual fertility to a large degree. Absolute birth numbers and crude birth rates: original and revised figures 1978–99 https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315027777/685aac6a-6962-4e7e-8534-905ad0b77abd/content/chart3_C.jpg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/> Note: Absolute birth numbers from 1985–99 reports of the Birth-Planning Commission (BPC), from 1978–81 and 1989 reports of the Ministry of Public Security (MPS), from 1982–99 SSB surveys and 1982–90 SSB adjustments are original figures; the same applies to 1978–81 crude birth rates (CBR) from the MPS reports, the 1982–97 birth rates from the annual sample surveys of the State Statistical Bureau (SSB) and the 1982–90 birth rates adjusted by the SSB on the basis of the 1990 census. All other figures are calculated from birth rates and the official population totals Sources: Own calculations and basic data from ZJSN 1986–; ZRTN 1988–; ZTN 1992–; Nygren and Hoem 1993; Zeng Yi 1995; Cai Fang 2000, 12
