Related: Affluence of Chinese contributes to population control

             China faces up to aging population

    BEIJING, Jan. 6 (Xinhuanet) -- China Thursday morning welcomed its 1.3 billionth citizen, but experts cautioned that the country should get prepared to address its still growing population, increasing employment pressure and rising sex ratio imbalance before celebrating.

    The baby boy, born at two minutes past midnight Thursday in a Beijing hospital, was called a "lucky dog" by his father to be declared China's 1.3 billionth citizen. On the same day, more than 20,000 other babies were added to China's population list.

    The National Population and Family Planning Commission (NPFPC) had determined in advance that the first baby born in this hospital after midnight would be the symbolic 1.3 billionth Chinese.

    Experts say China's 1.3 billion population might have come four years earlier if it were not for the family planning policy the Chinese government adopted over three decades ago.

    Even so, Chinese demographers viewed the event in mixed mood.

    "It's a great achievement," said Zhai Zhengwu, head of the social and population college of the Beijing-based People's University. "China's population would be 300 million more without the policy."

    In the early 1970s, a Chinese couple had an average of 5.8 children. The number has since dropped to 1.8, placing China in the world's low-birth-rate club.

    "But the 1.3 billion population has once again sounded the alarm that China's population issue remains not optimistic," said Zhang Weiqing, minister in charge of the NPFPC.

    Zhang has reason to worry, as China is expected to add eight to10 million to its population each year. A National Statistics Bureau (NSB) projection puts China's population at 1.47 billion around 2032.

    A report from a team with the Chinese Academy of Sciences estimates that the ideal population size for China is 700 million, and the largest number that China could possibly accommodate is 1.6 billion.