There has been a great growth in the population of Qinghai since the foundation of the People's Republic. There are distinct features: the population increased quickly at a high rate; the Han population grew mainly because of migration while natural growth played a dominant role in the growth of the ethnic population; the urban population and non-agricultural population increased more quickly than the rural population and agricultural population, and apparent urbanization was observed.

There was mainly a natural increase during the early 1950s with a high birth rate, high mortality and high natural growth rate. The net population increment during the period 1950 - 55 was 249,000 with the annual rate being 3.2%. In this period the birth rate was around 34 per 1,000 and reached 44 per 1,000 in 1954. Mortality was above 10 per 1,000 in the 1956 - 1959 period. There were a total of 1.1162 million immigrants during the four years. Population growth became negative in the early 1960s, with a net decrease of 550,000 people. The period 1963 - 1977 was one with a high birth rate, smoothly decreasing mortality rate and high natural growth rate. The population kept increasing for 15 years. From 1978 up to now, the speed of population increase slowed down with the decline in the birth rate and natural growth rate. The birth rate in 1978 was 26.15 per 1,000 and the natural growth rate was 19.49 per 1,000 lower than that of the mid 1970s. In the middle of the 1980s, the birth rate declined below 20 per 1,000 for four years, and the natural growth rate remained below 6 per 1,000 for seven years. In 2000, the birth rate was 19.25 per 1,000, and the natural growth rate was 13.10 per 1,000. They were still the highest in China.

Editor: Carolyn