Recently, Du Peng, vice president of the Chinese Population Association and vice president of Renmin University of China, accepted an exclusive interview with China News Agency "China Focus Face to Face".
According to the population forecast of the United Nations, India may surpass China in April this year and become the most populous country in the world. What does the change in population mean?
Du Peng said that there is no advantage or disadvantage in itself whether the number of population is the first or the second. What we value more is whether our economic and social development is more beneficial under such a background of being the first or the second, and whether our sense of well-being , Whether the sense of gain is continuously improving.
Du Peng believes that whether in terms of health, education, or our urbanization, this is much higher than that of India.
Of course, we also face challenges. It is precisely because our fertility rate is lower than that of India, so our population is aging, and its speed and degree are much higher than that of India.
This means that in the development of social security, especially the multi-level social security system, we need to make greater efforts to improve the fertility level, to solve the problems of rural childcare and elderly care, the fairness of education, especially the reduction of The difference between urban and rural areas, this gap between regions, I think this is the more important challenge we face.
Therefore, compared with India, it is not necessary to stick to its number one. Instead, we should see more clearly the achievements we have made in the past forty years, especially the achievements in various aspects in the past ten years, and make better use of them. Based on our own advantages and based on China's national conditions, we will develop China's modernization well.
(Xie Longfei)
Responsible editor: [Li Ji]