China's population, employment development since 2002

The National Bureau of Statistics released a report on Friday concerning the country's population growth and employment status since the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) was held in late 2002.

The following are facts and figures from the report:

-- China's population reached 1.347 billion people by the end of 2011, an increase of 62.82 million from 2002. The annualized growth rate came in at 0.53 percent during the period.

-- The ratio of Chinese to the world population dropped from 20.3 percent in 2002 to 19.5 percent in 2011.

-- In 2011, the number of Chinese between the ages of 15 and 64 topped one billion, accounting for 74.4 percent of the total. People at or above 65 took up 9.1 percent of the entire population, compared with 7.3 percent in 2002.

-- China saw 16.04 million births in 2011, a crude birth rate of 11.93 per 1,000 people.

-- The illiteracy rate fell to 4.08 percent in 2010 from 9.16 percent in 2002.

-- The number of urban dwellers hit 690.79 million as of the end of 2011, accounting for 51.27 percent of the country's total population, exceeding the number of rural residents for the first time.

-- In 2011, China's family size averaged 3.02 persons per household, although the figure was less than 3 for urban families.

-- China had a work force of 764.2 million people by the end of 2011, 359.14 million of whom work in urban areas.

-- The urban unemployment rate was 4.1 percent by the end of 2011.