China has improved the family planning and reproductive health for rural residents with fewer but healthier babies born in the past 30 years, said the National Population and Family Planning Commission (NPFPC) on Wednesday.

Chinese women's total fertility rate has dropped to below 2 from 5.8 at the beginning of the implementation of the family planning policy in early 1980s, according to a report released by the NPFPC.

The report said the low fertility rate has helped ease the pressure of the rapidly growing population on the environment and natural resources.

The central government always puts the family planning as a key issue for the development of rural areas, and has worked effectively in educating the rural residents and providing them with sound reproductive services, the report said.

The commission and its local branches established more than 2,600 reproductive health service centers at county level, more than 32,000 such centers at township level and 700,000 in villages to improve family planning in rural areas, the report said.

During the eleventh five-year program (2006-2010), the central government and local governments will invest 4.9 billion yuan (US$700 million) to improve the family planning service system, and to provide more standard service for both urban and rural residents, according to the report.

The contraceptive rate among rural residents reached 80 percent in 2008, with lower death rate for both mothers and babies, the report said.

The government allocated funds to encourage rural people to follow the family planning policy. By the end of 2008, the government has distributed a total of 5.2 billion yuan to 8.33 million people to award them for following the policy.

The NPFPC also promoted the insurance system for one-child families in 12 cities and started pilot projects for pension system for rural families which followed the family planning policy.

Those measures had not only promoted the family planning in rural areas but also helped increase the farmers' income and improved their living standards, the report said.

(Xinhua News Agency March 18, 2009)