Family planning policy urged to lift as China's population grows slower with low birth rate
随着中国人口增长放缓以及出生率降低，计划生育亟待改革
China's once-a-decade census results were released Tuesday, signaling a critical turning point as the country's population ages rapidly while the overall growth rate slows, bucking a five-decade trend.
周二，中国公布的最新人口普查（每十年开展一次）结果标志着一个关键的转折点。不同于过去50年的趋势，中国人口正在加速老龄化，总体增长率持续放缓。
The data will serve as an important reference for adjustments to China's population and economic policy planning, which could see the lifting of the national family planning policy, Chinese demographers said on Tuesday.
周二，中国人口统计学家表示，该数据将为中国人口及经济规划的调整提供重要参考，这或许意味着国家计划生育的改革。
With birth fertility rates expected to drop in the following years, demographers predict that India with its much higher fertility rate will overtake China as the world's most populous country by 2023 or 2024, earlier than the last UN prediction in 2019 that this would happen by 2027.
人口学家估计，随着未来几年生育率的下降，生育率相对高得多的印度将在2023年或2024年取代中国成为全球人口最多的国家，这比联合国在2019年所预测的2027年实现这一转变要早得多。
Over the past decade, China's population has continued to grow and China is still the most populous country in the world with steady improvement in population quality, and China's population will remain above 1.4 billion for a certain period in the future, Ning Jizhe, head of National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), said at Tuesday's media briefing. He said that China's population will peak in the future, although it is not certain when that peak will come.
国家统计局宁吉喆在周二的新闻发布会上说道，在过去的十年里，中国人口仍在持续增长，中国仍是全球人口最多的国家，人口素质也在稳步提高，并且在未来一定时期内，中国人口仍将超过14亿。他还表示，中国人口将在未来某一时刻达到峰值，但目前尚不确定峰值何时到来。
The population of the Chinese mainland grew to 1.412 billion in 2020, up from 1.4 billion at the end of 2019, according to the results of the seventh population census, which was released by the NBS on Tuesday.
周二，国家统计局发布了第七次全国人口普查数据，中国人口从2019年底的14亿增加至2020年的14.12亿。
The figures show that China's population is growing more slowly than in the past. From 2010 to 2020, the Chinese mainland's population grew by 5.38 percent, but from 2000 to 2010, the Chinese mainland's population grew from 1.26 billion to 1.34 billion, an increase of 5.84 percent.
数据显示，中国人口增加有所减缓。从2010年到2020年，中国人口增长了5.38%，而从2000年到2010年，中国的人口从12.6亿增长至13.4亿，增长了5.84%。
Although Ning did not give an exact time when China's population is expected to peak, Lu Jiehua, professor of sociology at Peking University, believes this may happen around 2027, before it starts to decline. Some demographers believe the peak may come as soon as 2022.
尽管宁吉喆并未给出中国人口达到峰值的确切时间，但北京大学社会学教授陆杰华认为，峰值或将在2027年左右出现，此后人口将开始下降。一些人口统计学家认为，峰值最早或将在2022年到来。
Despite China's population grows slower, its quality has significantly improved in the past decade. According to the census results, the average number of years of schooling for people aged 15 and over rose to 9.91 years from 9.08 years in 2010, and the gender
ratio of the Chinese mainland's population reached 105.07 males to 100 females, slightly down from 105.2 in 2010. China's permanent urban population continues to increase, with the urban population on the mainland totaling 901.99 million, representing 63. percent of the total.
尽管中国人口增长放缓，但在过去10年里，中国人口素质得到了显著提升。人口普查数据显示，15岁以上人口平均受教育年限由2010年的9.08年提高至2020年的9.91年，中国人口男女性别比例由2010年的105.2下降至105.07。城镇常住人口比例持续增长，全国城镇人口达9.0199亿，占总人口的63.%。
Meanwhile, the country's ethnic population increased steadily, fully reflecting the comprehensive development and progress of all ethnic groups in China under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the NBS said.
国家统计局表示，与此同时，全国少数民族人口也在稳步增长，充分反映了党领导下全国各族人民正在全面发展进步。
The ethnic minority population in the Chinese mainland reached 125 million in 2020, accounting for 8. percent of the total population, up 0.4 percentage points compared with 2010.
2020年，中国少数民族人口达到1.25亿，占总人口的8.%，相比2010年提高0.4%。
The population undercount rate in the seventh population census was 0.05 percent, lower than international standards, and the seventh census' results were true and reliable, the NBS said.
国家统计局表示，第七次人口普查的漏报率为0.05%，低于国际标准，因此结果是真实可信的。 (全文共504个词)
