172 8 School Mapping and Boarding in the Context ...
8.3.2 Demographic Change and School Enrolment
in Ansai County, Shanxi Province
Population growth in Ansai has followed a different trajectory to that in Tongzhou
with overall growth during the first part of the 2000s followed by a decline since
- The population grew by about 26,000 from its total of 142,000 over the first
eight years of the decade then fell back by about 6000 (Fig. 8.3).
In the case study areas in Huaziping and Yanhewan the population has grown
fairly steadily over a long period with a declining rate of growth since 2000 (Chart
XX). From 1980 to 1990 population growth averaged about 2 % per year in both
locations. After 2000 the growth rate was much lower at no more than about 0.7 %
per year. Over this period the birth rate has fallen dramatically. In the 1980s it
averaged about 20 ‰ and was over 30 ‰ in 1982 in Huaziping. By 2008 it
had fallen to 12 ‰ and in 2009 to 7 ‰. In Yanhewan town the fall in birth rate
occurred from 2000 and averaged below 10 ‰. In both sites more boys than girls
were born. In the 1980s the boys outnumbered girls by about 10 % each year. In
the 2000s this remained the case in Huaziping but in Yanehewan the ratio deterio-
rated and there were about 15 % more boys in the birth register (Fig. 8.4).
As in Tongzhou the number of children enrolled in Ansai has fallen dramati-
cally as much as 10 % a year since the mid 1990s. Between 2000 and 2008 the
Figure 8.3 Population growth in Ansai
in Ansai
Fig. 8.2 Enrollment by
grade in Xiji