Population and Development

This article highlights improvements in China's population development, particularly in its family planning programs. China first realized the importance of family planning in 1962. 2 years later, a Family Planning Office was established under the State Council, which was upgraded into a Leading Group in 1973, and population began to be incorporated into national planning. In 1981, the State Family Planning Commission was established as a ministry-level organization directly under the State Council. In 1982, the government further defined its population policy as "controlling population growth and improving population quality.¿ Moreover, in the wake of the International Conference on Population Development in 1994 and the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995, China has called for reorientations in family planning programs and in social regulations. This article also presents the efforts of the Chinese government to protect the country's environment and the employment of certain measures to facilitate population migration in response to the needs of the migrant population for family planning and health care.