China''s population to touch 1.42 billion by 2020

Beijing, February 6

China's population, the largest in the world, is expected to reach about 1.42 billion by 2020, according to the country's National Health and Family Planning Commission.

As of the end of 2015, China had a population of about 1.37 billion.

China's population is expected to reach about 1.42 billion by 2020, the National Health and Family Planning Commission said while calling for more support for women returning to work after giving birth.

It also encouraged employers to support a balance between work and family relations among employees.

The annual natural population growth rate will be around six per thousand while China's gender ratio at birth is expected to be reduced to 112 boys for every 100 girls by 2020, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

According to the National Population Development Outline released by the Chinese central cabinet the gender ratio, which was 113.5 men to every 100 women in 2015, one of the highest in the world, is forecast to drop below 112 by 2020 and 107 by 2030.

China last year scrapped the decades-old 'one-child policy' as the country is saddled with more old age people.

The natural population growth rate stayed at five per thousand, while the male-to-female ratio among newborns fell from 117.94 to 113.51, the report said.

An official plan released by the China's central government said China will create over 50 million new urban jobs by 2020.

The government will improve employment structure and quality and keep the urban headline unemployment rate under 5 per cent by 2020, according to the employment facilitation plan for the 2016-2020 period released by the state council.

The plan pointed out that employment was key to affecting standards of living and supporting economic growth, and that China would make proactive employment policies.

China will support sectors that create lots of jobs and promote entrepreneurship, such as businesses related to the sharing economy.

The government will help college graduates, farmers and workers, affected by the country's overcapacity cutting drive, to secure jobs, according to the plan.

Latest figures from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security show that the country managed to create jobs for more than 13 million urban residents in 2016, and the registered unemployment rate in Chinese cities stood at 4.02 per cent at the end of 2016, the report said. — PTI