Source: United Nations, Department of Social and Economic Affairs,
Population Division (2007): World Population Prospects, The 2006
Revision. New York
According to the 2006 Revision of the
United Nations World Population Prospects, we can expect China's
population to grow only slowly - from 1.31 billion in 2005 to 1.46
billion in 2030. After 2030 China's population is projected to
decline to 1.41 billion in 2050, according to the medium variant
projection. This implies a slight increase in fertility. With
constant fertility, China's population would begin to decline
after 2025 - reaching 1.34 billion in 2050.
According to the high
fertility variant, however, China's population would continue to
grow - reaching 1.65 billion by 2050. The high fertility variant
assumes that China's fertility would be 0.5 children per woman
higher in 2050 as compared to the medium fertility variant. This
illustrates that even slight increases in fertility could easily add
another 200 or 300 million people to China's population.