China's one-child-per-family policy has prevented 400 million births

China's one-child-per-family policy has prevented 400 million births, Zhang Weiqing, director of China's National Population and Family Planning Commission, said on Wednesday, Xinhua/China Daily reports (Xinhua/China Daily, 11/9).

The one-child policy seeks to keep China's population, now 1.3 billion, at around 1.7 billion by 2050. Ethnic minorities and farmers are the only groups legally exempt from the rule (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 10/17).

Speaking at the International Workshop for Senior Officials on Capacity-Building in Program Management on Population and Development, Zhang stressed international cooperation and exchanges of population management experience.

He added that China also would provide population management training and contraceptive supplies to developing countries (Xinhua/China Daily, 11/9).

Zhang also said the country needed to address issues related to the policy, including an imbalanced male-to-female ratio and an older population.

According to government statistics, about 117 boys are born for every 100 girls born in China, compared with an average of between 104 to 107 boys per 100 girls in industrialized countries, the AP/International Herald Tribune reports (Wong, AP/International Herald Tribune, 11/9).