Warning over population growth

China's National Statistics Bureau warned that the country's population was continuing to expand beyond that supportable by current economic conditions. In a statement days after the country's population officially passed the 1.3bn mark, the bureau said it expected China's population to grow by 60m over the next five years" equivalent to the entire population of the UK. By 2020, it added, around 170m people, or about 12% of the population will be aged 65 or older. It warned that the country's ageing population would "exact a huge pressure on our economic development," adding, "We need more social security and health care.'' In recent years the Chinese government has had to create 10m new jobs annually to cope with population growth, a pace that does nnot take account of the 150m unemployed people of working age in rural China. "China's population structure presents no cause for optimism,'' the bureau said.