On March 28, 2001 (March 4, 2001 in the lunar calendar), the fifth national census held my country's total population was 1.295.33 billion. On March 28, 2001, Zhu Zhixin, director of the National Bureau of Statistics and deputy head of the State Council Census Leading Group, announced the rapid summary results of the main data at a press conference of the State Council Information Office: the total population of the country is 1,295.33 million, of which the population of 31 provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government of the motherland (excluding islands such as Kinmen and Matsu in Fujian Province) and active military personnel totals 126.583 million; The population of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is 6.78 million (Data as at June 30, 2000 provided by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region); The population of the Macao Special Administrative Region is 440,000 (Data as at September 30, 2000 provided by the Government of the Macao Special Administrative Region); Kinmen in Taiwan Province and Fujian Province, The population of islands such as Matsu is 22.28 million (data released by the Taiwan authorities for December 2000). Zhu Zhixin introduced that according to the decision of the State Council, my country conducted the registration work for the fifth national census on November 1, 2000. Under the unified leadership of the State Council and local people's governments at all levels, with the active support and cooperation of the people of all ethnic groups across the country, and through the joint efforts of various localities and departments, the on-site registration, review and post-event quality spot checks for the fifth national census have been successfully completed. The rapid summary of main data has been completed, and the results show that my country's population has undergone the following changes: First, the momentum of excessive population growth has been effectively controlled. Compared with the 1990 census, the population of the 31 provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government and active-duty military personnel increased by 132.15 million in ten years and four months, an increase of 11.66%, with an average annual increase of 12.79 million, with an average annual growth rate of 1.07%, a decrease of 4 thousandths from the end of the 1980s. This result proves that my country's family planning policy has achieved significant results. Not only did it smoothly pass the third birth peak since the founding of the People's Republic of China, effectively control the momentum of excessive population growth, but it also began to enter a development stage with low birth levels. 2. The quality of the population has been further improved. In this census, the crude illiteracy rate of my country's population (the proportion of illiteracy aged 15 and above in the total population) was 6.72%, a decrease of 9.16 percentage points from the 1990 census of 15.88%. At the same time, compared with the 1990 census, the average population with various educational levels per 100,000 people has changed greatly. The number of people with a college degree or above has increased from 1422 to 3611, an increase of 154%; the number of people with a high school degree has increased from 8039 to 11146, an increase of 39%; the number of people with a junior high school degree has increased from 23344 to 33961, an increase of 45%; The number of people with a primary school degree dropped from 37057 to 35701, a decrease of 4%. In the 1990s, the cultural quality of our country's population improved at a rapid rate that has been rare since the founding of the People's Republic of China. This trend reflects the results achieved by my country in implementing measures such as eliminating illiteracy among young and middle-aged people, popularizing nine-year compulsory education and vigorously developing higher education over the past ten years. 3. The aging process is accelerating. This census reflects that the age structure of my country's population has undergone major changes. 0-14 The proportion of the population aged 65 and above in the total population was 22.89%, a decrease of 4.8 percentage points from the 1990 census; the proportion of the population aged 65 and above in the total population was 6.96%, an increase of 1.39 percentage points from the 1990 census. This reflects that since my country's reform and opening up, with the rapid development of the economy and society, people's living standards and medical and health care services have greatly improved, especially the rapid decline in the fertility level of the population, and the acceleration of the population aging process. 4. The population of ethnic minorities has grown rapidly. The proportion of ethnic minorities in the total population in this census increased from 8.04% in the 1990 census to 8.41%, indicating that the growth rate of ethnic minorities is higher than that of the Han people. 5. The size of households continues to shrink. In this census, there were 348.37 million households in 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government, with an average population of 3.44 people per household, a decrease of 0.52 people from the 3.96 people in the 1990 census. 6. The level of urbanization is developing rapidly. In this census, 455.94 million people lived in cities and towns, accounting for 36.09% of the total population, and 807.39 million people lived in rural areas, accounting for 63.91%. Compared with the 1990 census, the proportion of urban population increased by 9.86 percentage points. This shows that my country's rapid economic and social development since the 1990s has greatly promoted the improvement of urbanization level. This census started in early 1998 and has completed the two stages of preparation and registration review. The data processing and data development and utilization stages are in progress, and all work is expected to be completed by the end of 2002.