SOCIAL STATISTICS
Births, 2005, 16,210,000; deaths, 8,510,000. 2005 birth rate (per 1,000 population), 12·40; death rate, 6·51. In 2005 the birth rate rose for the first time since 1987. There were 9,450,000 marriages and 1,893,000 divorces in 2006. In April 2001 parliament passed revisions to the marriage law prohibiting bigamy and cohabitation outside marriage. The World Health Organization estimated in 2005 that the suicide rate in China was about 17·4 per 100,000 population. China is the only major country in which the suicide rate is higher among females—over half the world’s female suicides occur in China. Life expectancy at birth, 2007, was 71·3 years for men and 74·7 years for women. Infant mortality, 2005, 23 per 1,000 live births. Fertility rate, 2008, 1·8 births per woman. Annual population growth rate, 2000–10, 0·6%. According to the World Bank, the number of people living in poverty (less than US$1·25 a day) at purchasing power parity declined from 835m. in 1981 to 207m. in 2005.
