China vows to maintain low birth rate

The State Council, or cabinet, on Tuesday issued a guideline vowing to maintain the country's low birth rate so to limit its population to within 1.39 billion by 2015.

"From 2011 to 2015, the country's working-age population will peak, while the aging population will grow at an unprecedented rate. And the urban population will remain greater than that in rural areas," according to the guideline on the country's population development 2011-2015.

The document sees these five years as "a major transitional period" for the population growth in China posing both opportunities and challenges.

"Training coverage for employees should be expanded, and the quality of that workforce should be greatly improved," said the guideline, adding that more employment opportunities, higher incomes as well as optimized population distribution will be ensured.

According to the document, the overall population growth rate will be kept below 0.72 percent per annum. Meanwhile, the average education period for citizens above the age of 15 will rise to 9.3 years, with 13.3 years for newly-added working people.

The education durations for those above 15 and people new to the workforce were nine and 12.4 years respectively by the end of 2010.

Also, the average life expectancy will reach 74.5, up one year from 2010, with strengthened measures to lower mortality rates of newborns as well as pregnant women.

Earlier reports have said that the country's family planning policy, which was introduced in late 1970s and also known as the "one-child policy," prevented 400 million people from being added to China's population, which is 1.341 billion at present.