With regard to the connotation of "population quality", Zhang Chunyuan, an early demographer, stated in his book "A Course on Population Theory" that "population quality is the condition and ability that people have to understand and transform the world". Since then, demographer Mu Guangzong believes that population quality refers to various social functions and influences displayed by population structure and combination under certain historical conditions. Generally speaking, a higher population quality always has a more reasonable structure and combination, but also has a stronger social function and a more positive impact. It can be seen that population quality refers to the subjective and objective conditions and abilities of population groups to understand and transform the world under a certain time, region and social system. From its extension, there are two elements and three elements. 1988, Chen Jian, a scholar, put forward the theory of "dualism", arguing that "population quality" consists of physical quality and cultural and scientific quality. According to the theory of "three elements", population quality includes three aspects: physical quality, scientific and cultural quality and ideological and moral quality.

First, the status quo and problems of population quality

After entering the 2 1 century, China's population quality has been greatly improved, but it still lags far behind developed countries and even some developing countries. Based on the theory of "two elements", this paper analyzes the present situation and problems of population quality in China.

Poor physical quality

1. The life expectancy of the population is not long enough. Since the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), the average life expectancy of the population in China has gradually increased, and so has the average life expectancy of men and women (see table 1). However, compared with developed countries and even some developing countries, there is still a big gap. Www.kloc-0/33229.com In 2004, the average life expectancy of China population was 67.3 years higher than that of the world population, only 4. 1 year higher; It is 7.9 years higher than the average life expectancy of 63.5 years in developing countries such as India. But 8.4 years lower than Canada's 79.8 years; It is lower than Japan's 8 1.8 years 10.4 years (see table 2).

Table 1? Average life expectancy of the national population by sex in some years: years

Note: The data come from Population and Social Science and Technology Statistics Department of National Bureau of Statistics, China Population in 2007.

Table 2 Average life expectancy in some countries in 2000 and 2004: years.

2. The infant mortality rate is very high. After 1990, the infant mortality rate in China showed a downward trend, with 1990 being 38‰, 33‰ in 2000 and 26‰ in 2004. Compared with the world average infant mortality rate, the infant mortality rate in China was 25.9‰ in 1990, 24.6‰ in 2000 and 28. 1‰ in 2004. However, compared with developed countries, there is a big gap. In 2004, it was 23‰ higher than Japan, 19.3‰ higher than the United States and 210.4 ‰ higher than Australia (see Table 3 on the next page). The high infant mortality rate will affect the life expectancy of the population and affect the development of the whole society.

Table 3 Infant mortality rate in some countries in 2000 and 2004: ‰

3. The incidence of birth defects is high. Due to the huge population base in China, the incidence of birth defects is very high every year. According to the statistics published by the National Population and Family Planning Commission, the annual birth population in China is about150,000, and the birth defect rate is about 12.98%. It is estimated that there are about 200,000 to 300,000 birth defects in China every year. Together with the children who show defects after birth, the total number of children with congenital defects is as high as 800,000 ~ 65,438+200,000, accounting for about 4% ~ 6% of the total population born every year.

4. The proportion of disabled people is not low. "In China, 20% ~ 25% people suffer from various genetic diseases, and mental retardation is the main reason that affects the quality of the population. In China, there are about 1% ~ 2% mentally retarded people with IQ less than 70, about 5 million ~ 1.8 million mildly retarded people, and about 1 10,000 ~ 2 million idiots. [1] The number of disabled people in China is huge and the proportion is increasing. Among them, 1987, the disabled population accounts for 4.9% of the total population, and the disabled population is about 51640,000. By 2006, there were 82.96 million disabled people in China, accounting for 6.34% of the total population [2].

(B) low scientific and cultural quality

1. The average number of years of education of the population is very small. During the period of 1980, the average length of education in China was 4.5 years, which reached 7.6 years in 2000 (see table 4) and increased to more than 8.5 years in 2007. The average years of education in the world are 1 1 year, the United States is 13.4 years, and South Korea is 12.3 years, with obvious differences.

Table 4 Average years of education in China and some areas in 2000 Unit: years.

At the same time, the education level of urban and rural population is obviously different. "In 2005, the average educational years of urban population was 10.2 years, while the average educational years of rural population was only 7.33 years, which was about three years lower than that of urban population, and even the average educational years of some rural population were only three to four years." [3]

The overall quality of the labor force varies greatly from region to region. In 2004, the average length of education in the east was 8.26 years, the middle was 8. 14 years, and the west was 7.48 years, the lowest. The crude illiteracy rate in the western region is also the lowest.

The overall quality difference between urban and rural areas and regional labor forces is not conducive to the process of urbanization, and it is also difficult to improve agricultural labor productivity and promote agricultural industrialization.

2. The gross enrollment rate of higher education is low. Although compared with the initial stage of reform and development, the gross enrollment rate of higher education in China has increased rapidly. In 2000, compared with the 1990 census, the population with various education levels per 654.38+million people changed greatly, and the number of people with college education or above increased from 1 422 to 36165438, an increase of154. The number of students with high school education increased from 8 039 to 1 1 146, an increase of 39%. The number of people with junior high school education increased from 23,344 to 3,3961person, an increase of 45%. " [4]

However, the gross enrollment rate of higher education is still far lower than that of developed countries in the world. In 2006, the university enrollment rate in China reached 23%, which was close to the world average of more than 25.6%. However, the enrollment rate of higher education in most developed countries has exceeded 30%, and that in the United States has reached over 80%.

3. The illiteracy rate is very high. Compared with the early days of the People's Republic of China, although the gross illiteracy rate and the illiteracy rate of young adults (15 ~ 45 years old) in China are gradually decreasing, they are still very high. The illiterate population in China was180.03 million, which decreased to 85.07 million in 2000. Although the total number of illiterates has declined, it has a huge base, ranking second in the world, second only to India. At present, the illiteracy rate is below 2% in developed countries, around 2.2% in European countries, and only 0.5% in the United States, Canada and Russia.

Second, measures to improve the quality of the population

At present, China should take improving the quality of population as the core issue of population policy, gradually turn population pressure into human resource advantage, and gradually turn a populous country into a talent power.

1. Implement the birth defect intervention project to improve the quality of the birth population. The key measure of birth defect intervention is prevention, and intervention must be carried out according to the "three-level prevention" strategy to prevent birth defects. Among them, primary prevention is to prevent the occurrence of birth defects, including premarital examination, genetic counseling, choosing the best childbearing age, and early pregnancy health care, including reasonable nutrition and prevention of infection. Secondary prevention is to reduce the birth of children with birth defects, mainly through early detection, early diagnosis and early measures during pregnancy; Tertiary prevention refers to the treatment of birth defects. Through the implementation of health behavior intervention, nutrition intervention, vaccine intervention, drug intervention and other technical means, we can carry out birth defect intervention and improve the quality of the birth population.

2. Promote early population education to lay a solid foundation for improving the quality of the population. "Infant period is not only the foundation period of human intellectual development, but also the foundation period of physical quality and ideological quality." [5] Early education is an organic combination of family education, kindergarten education and social education for infants, focusing on developing brain potential, taking games as the main form, focusing on improving intelligence, strengthening physique, perfecting personality and improving the overall quality of the population. By organizing learning activities in health, society, language, science and art, infants and young children can develop well in knowledge, skills, abilities, emotions and attitudes.

3. Vigorously develop education and science and technology, and comprehensively improve the quality of the population.

(1) Increase investment in education and implement the strategic position of giving priority to the development of education. At present, China's education investment accounts for a small proportion of national income, so it should be increased. In particular, increase investment in education in rural areas, especially in western rural areas, in order to further improve the scientific and cultural quality of the population.

(2) Optimize the educational structure and accelerate the development of all kinds of education. Continue to do the work of "two basics" and promote the balanced development of compulsory education; Accelerate the popularization of high school education and strive to make every school-age child receive a complete basic education; Vigorously develop higher education and improve the quality of higher education; Strengthen adult education and improve the scientific and cultural level of the employed population; Highlight the development of vocational and technical education and cultivate all kinds of applied talents; Encourage social forces to set up education and develop distance education and continuing education.

(3) Actively implement the talent strategy and accelerate the development of talent resources. Because a good talent environment is a huge intangible asset, it can produce cohesion, appeal and driving force internally, and influence, competitiveness and attraction externally. Therefore, we must implement the talent strategy, speed up the development of talent resources, and maximize the innovation and development space of talents.

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