China's Ethnic Minorities

Social and Economic Indicators

Rongxing Guo

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9780415810159
• eBook ISBN: 9781136657337
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Economics
• Subtopic: Economic Theory
• Index: Economics

The majority of China's population is the Han. Till now, China has officially identified, except for other unknown ethnic groups and foreigners with Chinese citizenship, 55 ethnic minorities. Ethnic minorities vary widely in size in China. With a population of more than 15 million, the Zhuang have been the largest minority group, and the Lhoba, with only 2 thousand or more, the smallest. China's ethnic diversity has resulted in a special socioeconomic landscape of China itself. The book sets out to collect and estimate a full set of data on the socioeconomic situations of China's ethnic minorities.

Till present, a complete socioeconomic picture of China's ethnic groups still remains unclear from China's official sources. How different have been China's ethnic minorities in every sphere of daily life and economic development during China's fast transition period? In order to answer these questions, we need a detailed and comparable set of data for each of China's ethnic minorities.

This book provides, in an easy to use format, a broad collection of data on China's 55 ethnic minorities. It is a resource book that profiles the demography, employment and wages, people's livelihood, agriculture, industry, education, science and technology, and culture, sports and public health for each of these ethnic minorities. These indicators, estimated on the author based on materials gathered from a variety of sources and clearly presented in one volume, will be of great value to researchers, businesses, government agencies, and news media.

1

Population

Data in this chapter show some demographic conditions of China’s ethnic minorities, such as population, urban population and rural population, birth rates, death rates, natural growth rates, dependency ratio, household size, and education attainment in 2005.

The data are estimated based on the data provided by the Department of Population and Employment Statistics of the National Bureau of Statistics. Specifically, data in Table 1.1 are estimates from the 2005 National Sample Survey of 1% of Population. Data in Table 1.2 are from the national and provincial communiqués of the key results of the 2005 National Sample Survey of 1% of Population. Data in Table 1.3 are compiled from the 1990 and 2000 population censuses. Data in Tables 1.4–1.14 are the sample results of the 2005 National Sample Survey of 1% of Population.

Table 1.1 Total population and birth rate, death rate, and natural growth rate

Notes: (i) Military personnel were included in the national total population, but excluded in that of each ethnic group. (ii) The national total population excluded the population of Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. (iii) Data of total population are based on the 2005 National Sample Survey of 1% of Population with consideration of floating population. So the data in some regions are not comparable with the preceding year.

Table 1.2 Population by urban and rural residence

Notes: (i) “Urban population” refers to all people residing in cities and towns, while “rural population” refers to population other than urban population. (ii) Data in this table are obtained from the Communiqué on major figures of the 2005 National Sample Survey of 1% of Population.

Table 1.3 Population life expectancy

Note: Life expectancy in 2000 is calculated by the death data of 2000’s Population Census, which is modified by the mortality rates from the annual national sample surveys on population changes since 1990.

Table 1.4 Household, population, and household size

Note: Data in this table are obtained from the 2005 National Sample Survey of 1% of Population. The sampling fraction is 1.325%.

Table 1.5 Population and sex ratio

Note: Data in this table a...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Notes on the text
• 1. Population
• 2. Employment and income distribution
• 3. People’s livelihood
• 4. Agriculture and rural economy
• 5. Education and science and technology
• 6. Culture and public health
• Appendix A: Methodology used in this book
• Appendix B: China’s ethnic population shares
• Appendix C: Statistics of ethnic minority autonomous areas – administrative divisions and population
• Appendix D: Selected indicators on social and economic development in ethnic minority autonomous areas
• Appendix E: Geocultural conditions of the 55 ethnic minorities in China