'In every respect, China confounds the imagination.'
—Rene Scull (1985), vice president of Philip Morris Asia, quoted by Allan Brandt
in The Cigarette Century (2007)
Population of China in 5-year
birth cohorts: 1950-2010
Notes: The top black line labelled "0-4" shows the number of children in each year who were aged less than 5.
The blue line labelled "5-9" shows the number who were aged 5 to 9 (ie, 5 years older), and so on down the graph.
The number of children aged less than 5 peaked in 1955 (100 million), 1972 (134 million) and 1990 (119 million), and these
bulges in the population can be followed rightward across the graph as the respective cohorts grew older. There were
major troughs for the population aged less than 5 in 1960 (93 million) and 1982 (97 million).
For the population aged 55 or more, the echo of a trough is visible among those who would have been born around 1900.
Notes: The top black line labelled "0-4" shows the number of children in each year who were aged less than 5. The blue line labelled "5-9" shows the number who were aged 5 to 9 (ie, 5 years older), and so on down the graph.
The number of children aged less than 5 peaked in 1955 (100 million), 1972 (134 million) and 1990 (119 million), and these bulges in the population can be followed rightward across the graph as the respective cohorts grew older. There were major troughs for the population aged less than 5 in 1960 (93 million) and 1982 (97 million). For the population aged 55 or more, the echo of a trough is visible among those who would have been born around 1900.
Source of data: United Nations Population Division, "World Population Prospects: The 2006 Revision".