Sex-ratio imbalance not a result of family planning policy: official

A Chinese official said here Tuesday that the worsening imbalance in the sex-ratio of newborns in China was not an immediate result of the country's 33-year-long family planning policy.

The official admitted that the two are "related" and that the family planning policy has "contributed to the rise of imbalance."

"But that is not to say the policy would definitely lead to a rise in the imbalance," Zhang Weiqing, director of the National Population and Family Planning Commission, told a press briefing.

Formulated in the early 1970s, China's family planning policy encourages late marriages and late childbearing, and limits most urban couples to one child and most rural couples to two.

Wang Guoqiang, deputy director of the National Population and Family Planning Commission, said China's family planning policy is not a "one-child policy".

According to Wang, couples in large cities and some rural areas are permitted to have only one child. In rural areas of 19 provinces, couples are allowed to have a second child if the first one is a girl. In five provinces and regions, couples in rural areas are permitted to have more than two children. In regions inhabited by ethnic minorities, couples are permitted to have more than two children.

Zhang pointed out that other eastern countries -- such as India, the Republic of Korea and Pakistan -- also have imbalanced newborn sex ratios even though they do not have China's type of family planning policy.

The official blamed several factors for the growing imbalance in the ratio, including Chinese people's traditional preference for boys, lower levels of development and an inadequate social security network in rural areas, and the excessive use of ultrasound technology.

China's gender ratio for newborn babies in 2005 was 118 boys for 100 girls, compared with 110:100 in 2000. In some regions, the figure has reached 130 newborn boys for every 100 girls.

In a document jointly issued by the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council, the authorities said that the increasingly unbalanced sex ratio is "a hidden danger" for society that will "affect social stability."

To solve the problem, Zhang said China will take "comprehensive" measures, including promoting rural productivity and improving people's living standards.

Zhang pledged that the government will take strict measures to prevent and punish illegal gender testing of fetuses and abortions which are not for medical purposes.

"China does not use abortion as a birth control method," Zhang said.

While abortion is available to unmarried youngsters, the government provides sex education for young people to reduce the risk of unwanted pregnancies and promote sexual health.

He said the government will also improve the social security system in rural areas so that "elderly people are properly cared for".

A majority of China's rural residents are not covered by the social security system and farmers traditionally rely on their children, especially boys, when they get old.

The government will also take further measures to promote equality between men and women and to improve the social and economic status of girls and women, Zhang said.

In an attempt to halt the growing imbalance, China launched a "care for girls" campaign nationwide in 2000 to promote equality between men and women.

The government has also offered cash incentives to girl-only families in the countryside.

Zhang said solving the sex ratio imbalance will be "very difficult", and China "needs 10 to 15 years to get China's newborn sex ratio back to normal."

He said China will maintain a fertility rate of 1.8 and the family planning policy will not be loosened during the 11th Five-Year Plan Period (2006-2010).

China is in the midst of another baby boom, so it is definitely not the right time to loosen the birth control policy, Zhang said.

China is expected to increase spending on family planning from 10 yuan to 30 yuan (3.85 U.S. dollars) per person by 2010.

The government has pledged to keep the mainland population under 1.36 billion by 2010 and under 1.45 billion by 2020.

By the end of 2005, China had nearly 144 million people at and over the age of 60, accounting for 11.03 percent of its population. The number of elderly people is increasing at a rate of three percent a year.

The ratio between China's working population and its retirees has dropped from 10:1 in 1990 into 3:1 in 2003. The figure is expected to reach 2.5:1 in 2020.

The soaring number of senior citizens has brought great challenges to China's social security network, medical care system and social service sector.

The Chinese government, says Zhang, has taken a series of measures to address the issue, including improving the social security network and the health care system, to ensure that "elderly people are properly cared for"

China is building a nationwide social security network which will focus on the needs of the elderly. Statistics showed that 175 million people were enrolled in pension plans across China last year. More than 43.6 million retirees are receiving pensions.

A pilot program providing cooperative medicare in rural areas has been operating in some regions of China since 2003. By last June, the program had been extended to 1,399 counties, covering 495 million rural people or 73 percent of the elderly in the countryside.

The central government has required local governments to give preferential treatment to people over the age of 70 who are part of the new medicare program.

By the end of 2005, China had 1.5 million beds in various care centers for the elderly. The government said it will add 2.2 million beds for the aged in rural areas and 800,000 for those in cities within the next four years.

Source: Xinhua