Characteristics of Chinese population development from 1949 to 2018, and lessons learned

Abstract

China’s population increased from 540 million in 1949 to 1.4 billion in 2018. Demographic transition provides a theoretical framework to understand China’s population changes, and we can divide the history of China’s population development into three periods: the period of mortality decline-driven demographic transition (prior to 1970), the period of fertility decline-driven demographic transition (1970–1999), and post-demographic transition period (after 2000). This paper provides a historical overview of China’s population development, and concludes by identifying the main characteristics of this development and the main lessons learned from the process of population development.