China's vast population will reach 1.2 billion people in mid-February, the official China Daily newspaper reported Thursday.
Despite a widely criticized policy of forcibly limiting births, China acknowledged in the late 1980s that it couldn't meet its goal of holding the population under 1.2 billion until the end of the century.But family planning policy delayed reaching the 1.2 billion mark by nine years, said Yang Kuifu, vice minister of the State Family Planning Commission.
The official Xinhua News Agency reported earlier that the population hit 1.2 billion before Dec. 31. But the new figures from the State Statistical Bureau are considered more accurate.
China limits couples to just one or two children and has been accused of imposing forced sterilizations, abortions and use of contraception.
Chinese officials reject those criticisms, saying they use education and persuasion to teach people of the benefits of delaying having children and of having few children.
Family planning began in 1973.