1. Name: Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region
2. Areas: 23.67 square kilometers
3. Population: 47.115 million (total registered population at the end of 1997)
4. Provincial Capital: Nanning City
5. Geography: Guangxi is located in southern China, between 20(54'-26(20' north latitude, on the southeastern corner of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, faces the North Bay to the south, borders Viet Nam to the southwest and surrounded by Guangdong, Guizhou, Yunnan and Hunan provinces. It is the only border province (region) in China that has access to sea and inland waterway transportation.

The region has a terraced topographical feature sloping from the northwest to the southeast, with hilly land constituting 85% of its total area and plains 15%. The sub-tropical damp monsoon climate brings this region with distinct dry and damp seasons.


6. Natural Resources: Guangxi is bestowed with a sound climate and rich resources. Cultivated land in the region totaled more than 30 million mu, however, the per capita amount is small. In addition, Guangxi also abounds in cash crops and native products. Furthermore, it leads the rest of the country in reserves of non-ferrous metals. Water resource is also abundant in this region. In addition, Guangxi has well developed tropical fisheries in the North Bay, as well as fresh water fishery. Guilin and Beihai scenic areas have become a famous tourist attraction.
7. Economy: In 1997, GDP of Guangxi reached RMB201.520 billion, with a per capita amount of RMB4,356; total industrial output value amounted to RMB184.999 billion; output value from farming, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery totaled RMB98.024 billion; total fiscal revenue amounted to RMB9.916 billion; total grain output reached 16.691 million tons, with a per capita amount of 362 kg. Thanks to its geographical advantages and the reform and opening up policy, Guangxi's economy grew at a faster speed than the national average during 1991-1995.
8. People's life: 1997 year end statistics show that Guangxi had a working population of 30.12 million, making up 65.0% of the region's total. Of these people, 24.54 million were employed, with an employment rate of 81.5%. Average annual wage of staff and workers reached RMB5,540; savings deposit of both urban and rural residents totaled RMB101.314 billion; per capita annual net income of rural residents amounted to RMB1,875; per capita disposable income of urban residents reached RMB5,110; per capita living expenditure was RMB4,453 for urban and RMB1,376 for rural residents; and there were on average 18 hospital beds and 13 doctors and nurses for every 10,000 persons.
9. Education: The decades after the founding of the People's Republic, especially post-1960 years, have witnessed a rapid increase in Guangxi's population with all types of education. In the years after 1982, educational level of its population continued to rise, however, still low, compared with the rest of the country, which can be seen from the low proportion of people with higher education and the overall educational level of its population. By the end of 1997, there were 26 institutions of higher learning with an enrollment of more than 70,600 students and a faculty of 7,645; 6,621 secondary schools with 5,047,300 students and 237,948 teachers; and 16,197 primary schools with 6,267,900 pupils and a faculty of 195,133.

Total population of Guangxi has grown rapidly over the past decades, increasing from 18.45 million in 1949 to 47.115 million in 1997. From 1982-1990, a total of 5.824 million were added to its total population, with an average annual growth rate of 1.87%. In addition, with ethnic population accounting for nearly 40% of its total, Guangxi is one of the three provinces (autonomous regions) in China with an ethnic population of more than 10 million, and the autonomous region with the most ethnic population.

Most of Guangxi's population resides in the southern and southeastern parts of the region, and the north and southwestern parts are sparsely populated. Great differences exist in population distribution and density between urban and rural areas. Ethnic minorities are concentrated on the west and northwestern hilly areas, while most Han people live in the northeastern and southeastern plain areas.

The development of Guangxi's population since the founding of the People's Republic can be divided into five phases:

Phase I (1949-1953). Total population increased steadily.

Phase II (1953-1964). The birth rate of urban population was o.364 percentage point higher than that of their rural counterparts.

Phase III (1964-1982). This is a period in which Guangxi's total population grew the fastest and for the longest time.

Phase IV (1982-1990). Thanks to the implementation of the family planning program, the momentum of population growth was taken under control. However, the annual increase rate was still higher than the national average.

Phase V (1990-presently). The rapid growth of population has been brought under effective control. The population structure is meliorated, and quality improved, providing a relaxed population environment for its socio-economic development.

Sex ratio of Guangxi's total population was basically normal during 1950-1979, but increased significantly in late 1980s. Now the surprisingly unbalanced sex ratio has drawn special attention from the local government. In addition, there exists a difference in the sex composition between different regions and between urban and rural areas.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Guangxi had a young population, with a standard pyramid-shaped age structure; in 1982, however, the population was in a transition period from young to adult, and entered the early stage of an adult society in 1990, according to statistics of the same year.

In 1997, there were 13.454 million people aged 0-14, representing 28.56% of the region's total of 47.115 million; 30.071 million aged 15-64, 63.82% of the total; and 3.59 million aged 65 and over, 7.62% of the total. Total dependency ratio reached 56.68%, of which dependency ratio of the young was 44.74% and that of the aged 11.94%.

Guangxi recorded a birth rate of 23.29 per thousand in 1989, according to the 1990 census. Thanks to the efforts the local government made to curb the fertility, that figure was reduced to 15.93 per thousand by the end of 1997, and TFR declined subsequently, though still a distance to the replacement level. In 1997, the natural increase rate stood at 9.53 per thousand.

Estimations based on the high, medium and low variant projections show that an average of 900,000 newborns were added to its total population annually in the 1990s, and only after 2030 will this momentum slow down. The projected birth rate is on the decrease, however, the pressure imposed on the local economy by the annually increased population is still strong.

Guangxi had a high mortality rate prior to 1949, averaging over 16 per thousand between 1937-1942, and average life expectancy in this period was only 41 years. Since 1949, mortality rate has been reduced significantly to 5.63 per thousand in 1989 and 6.40 in 1997. In general, since the 1980s, mortality of Guangxi's population has been kept between 5.50-6.70 per thousand, and average life expectancy reached 70 years.

The change of mortality rate in Guangxi is similar to the general trend in other parts of the country. The 1990 census indicates that the average life expectancy of Guangxi's population had been raised to 71.08 years, one fold of that prior to 1949. Nonetheless, disparities remain between urban and rural areas and between different regions in terms of mortality level and average life expectancy.

The 1990 fourth census indicates that unmarried people represented 28.95% of the region's population aged 15 and over. The proportion of people remaining single lifetime was increasing. Sex ratio of the unmarried increased considerably and varied greatly between urban and rural areas. The census also shows that more people got married early, compared to the third census in 1983. A great difference between urban and rural areas existed in the number of people currently with spouses.

Among the divorced, male was more than female and it varied greatly between urban and rural areas. The divorce rate was lower for people with secondary education. In the widowed population, the number of female was 2.22 times of male and the proportion of young and aged people was increasing. A great difference also existed between urban and rural areas in this respect.

In 1997, of the 33.661 million people aged 15 and over, 17.205 million were male and 16.457 million were female. Of these people, 5.347 million were unmarried male and 3.271 million female; 10.708 million were first time married male currently with spouses and 11.156 million female; 237,000 were remarried male currently with spouses and 269,000 female; 180,000 were divorced male and 87,000 female; and 733,000 were widowed male and 1.674 million female.

Between 1950-1981, the number of households in Guangxi was slowly increasing, while the total population was increasing rapidly. However, 1982-1990 saw the former developing at a notably faster speed than the latter, and a difference existed between urban and rural areas and between different regions. Average family size kept expanding between 1950-1981, but turned smaller in post-1982 years. It averaged 4.41 persons in 1951, increased to 5.20 in 1981, reduced to 4.65 in 1990 and further reduced to 4.14 in 1997. Meanwhile, a significant urban-rural and regional difference still existed.

Total number of the aged population has increased considerably in Guangxi since 1949. The number of people aged 60 and over soared from 1.473 million to 3.423 million from 1953 to 1990, accounting for 8.10% of the region's total population in 1990. That number is estimated to rise to about 4.858 million by the end of this century (9.9% of total population) and 6.159 million by 2010 (11.4% of total). This momentum won't slow down until 2050. In addition, population aging in Guangxi develops unevenly, with most of the aged population living in rural areas. This trend will continue for a considerably long time, posing a series of problems to the province's socioeconomic development.

Since the founding of the People's Republic in 1949, especially since the 1960s, Guangxi has achieved a lot in providing its population with proper education. Between 1964-1990, the number of people with a college education rose at an annual rate of 4.7%; after 1982, that rate jumped to 10.24%. Those with a middle school education increased by 8.43% annually and those with a primary school education increased steadily between 1964-1982. In 1990, the length of education received by those aged 6 and over averaged 5.40 years, with average educational level of the total population standing at fifth grade.

Overall, despite the marked improvements in educational attainments, Guangxi's education cause remains underdeveloped compared to the national average. Currently, a great number of people are still illiterate or semi-literate. In addition, great disparities exist between males and females, between urban and rural areas, and between different regions in educational development.

Population migration in Guangxi is marked by rural labor force flowing to nearby cities, and by out-migrants outnumbering in-migrants. Sex ratio is low in inter-provincial migrants and high in inter-regional migrants. Migration occurs primarily as a result of job seeking or doing business, with other causes including family reunion, studying and training, work transfer and visiting friends or relatives.

The fourth national census conducted in 1990 indicated that Guangxi had a floating population of 1.62 million, a dramatic increase over the 1980s. In addition, the 1990 census also showed that 577,600 of its floating population stayed in their adopted cities for over one year, accounting for 1.37% of its total permanent population. Cities, especially those with well-developed industry, trade and transportation, are destinations for most migrating population.

In absolute terms, Guangxi has a large amount of land resources, but in per capita terms, its land acreage is low and decreasing. An unbalanced distribution of arable land, waste and abuse of farmland, soil pollution and degradation have worsened the situation. Grain supply becomes short consequently. Furthermore, the increase of population also exerts strong pressure on local water and coal resources, and deteriorates environmental pollution and the ecosystem.

Guangxi is an autonomous region dominated by the Zhuang people. It is home to 48 ethnic groups in this region, with the minority groups numbering 16.578 million (18.15% of the country's total and 39.24% of the region's total), according to the 1990 census. Sex ratio is lower among ethnic groups than among the Hans.

Guangxi's population turned adult since 1982. However, age composition in all ethnic groups is younger than in Hans. Since the 1980s, fertility level of the ethnic population has decreased significantly, approaching the level of Hans. In addition, the illiteracy rate for the ethnic population is also declining. The overall educational attainment of the ethnic population has improved greatly, despite disparities with Hans and between different ethnic groups.

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