ld. The per-capita GDP, however, increased by only 2.8-fold. From 1978 to 1994, while upholding reform and opening to the outside world and making great efforts to develop the economy, China persisted in doing a good job in family planning. In this period, the GDP went up 4.2-fold and the per-capita GDP increased 3.4-fold. During the same period, thanks to improvements in the quality of people's lives and the rise in their purchasing power, China's consumer goods market expanded 13.7-fold, and the total retail sales volume of consumer goods increased by an annual average of 17.2 percent. In 1994, the total volume of retail sales of consumer goods in China was 1,605.3 billion yuan. China has become a market with the greatest potential in the world. Compared with 1978, living standards have markedly improved, the urban people's per-capita incomes for living expenses increased 10-fold, at an annual increase of 15.5 percent; the per-capita net incomes for rural families went up 9-fold, at an annual increase of 14.8 percent. In Chinese cities and towns, the per-capita housing increased from 3.6 square metres to 7.5 square metres, and in the rural areas it increased from 8.1 square metres to 20.8 square metres. For the overwhelming majority of families, the basic needs of living, such as food, clothing, daily-use articles and housing, were met. The possession rate of durable goods, such as TV sets, cassette tape recorders, refrigerators and washing machines, approached the level of the moderately developed countries.
4. Family planning has promoted the improvement of the quality of the Chinese population in terms of education and health as well as the overall development of the people.
China's family planning has always included the two aspects of controlling the population size and improving the population quality in terms of education and health. While making efforts to control the population at an appropriate size, the Chinese government has devoted great attention to developing educational, medical and other services in order continuously to improve the quality of the population in terms of education and health. Prior to 1949, the mortality rate was as high as 20 per thousand, while by the end of the 1970s it had dropped to below 7 per thousand. From 1949 to 1990, the life expectancy rose from 35 years to 68.55 years--66.84 years for males and 70.47 years for females, making China a country where the life expectancy increased the most rapidly. Great improvements have been witnessed in the basic facilities for public health in China. Throughout the country, the average number of hospital beds for every 10,000 people increased from 13.3 in 1970 to 23.6 in 1994, and the average number of professional medical workers and technical workers in the field of medicine for every 10,000 people went up from 17.5 in 1970 to 35 in 1994. The incidence of various contagious diseases has markedly dropped. The diet of urban and rural people throughout the country has greatly improved, the per-capita daily calorie intake has reached 2,600 Kcal. and that of protein has reached 75 grammes, having reached or approaching the world average levels. Health care for women and children has continuously expanded. Now, family planning as well as maternity and child care networks have been basically formed in China's urban and rural areas. The mortality rate for babies dropped from 200 per thousand prior to the founding of the People's Republic to 35 per thousand in 1990, the death rate of expectant and new mothers was 94.7 per 100,000, and the rate of planned immunity for new-born babies reached 85 percent. The major indexes of people's medical care and health have already far outstripped countries at the same level of economic development, and the gap with the developed countries is being gradually narrowed.
The Chinese government has taken education as a strategic key for the country's development, and great progress has been made in this field. China is now accomplishing the goal of nine-year compulsory education in a planned and systematic way. In 