Tourists walk near a "flower basket" at Tian'anmen Square in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 24, 2020. (Xinhua/Chen Zhonghao)
BEIJING, May 11 (Xinhua) -- China's population on the mainland reached 1.41178 billion, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Tuesday, citing data from the seventh national census.
The figure does not include Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan residents and foreigners who live in the mainland's 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities, according to the NBS.
The latest population figure increased 72.06 million, or 5.38 percent, compared with the 1.33972 billion recorded in the previous census conducted a decade ago.
This represents an average annual growth rate of 0.53 percent from 2010 to 2020. The rate was slightly lower than the average annual growth of 0.57 percent from 2000 to 2010.
"Data shows that China's population has continued to maintain slow growth in the past decade," Ning Jizhe, head of the NBS, told a press conference.
He noted that the growth will be affected by such factors as the age structure, people's ideas on having children, government's population policies, the cost of childbearing and parenting, medical service and health conditions of the people.
However, Ning said the country's population will stay above 1.4 billion "for a certain period in the future."
"China's population will peak in the future, but there remains uncertainty as to when specifically it will happen," he said. ■
