This trend results from a combination of factors such as economic and social development,evolving policies and reg-ulations,and changes in views on marriage and childbearing.It conforms clearly to general trends of demographic develop-ment elsewhere in the world.
Economic and social development： Commendable results have been achieved in many fields in Xinjiang since the found-ing of the PRC.From 1952 to 2020,Xinjiang's GDP grew from RMB791 million to RMB1.38 trillion,and per capita regional GDP increased from RMB166 to RMB53,593.
Steady progress has been made in education.In 1949,Xin-jiang had only 1 college,9 secondary schools,and 1,355 pri-mary schools.Only 19.8 percent of school-age children were receiving education at school and the illiteracy rate was over 90 percent.In the 70 years since,a complete education system with institutions providing education from preschool through higher education has been put in place.By 2020,Xinjiang had kindergartens in all villages,and 3,641 primary schools,1,211 regular secondary schools,147 secondary vocational schools （excluding skilled workers schools）,56 higher education insti-tutions,and 6 adult colleges across the region.The gross en-rollment rate of preschool institutions was over 98 percent,the net enrollment rate of primary schools was almost 100 percent,the completion rate of nine-year compulsory education was over 95 percent,and the gross enrollment rate of high schools was over 98 percent.In Kashgar,Hotan,Aksu,and Kizilsu prefectures,15-year free education lasting from preschool to high school is available.From 1951 to 2020,Xinjiang pro-duced a total of nearly 2.12 million college graduates,of whom 767,000 (36.3 percent） are ethnic minorities.
A significant improvement has been seen in public health.Before the founding of the PRC,Xinjiang was poorly provided with medical services.It had only 54 medical institutions with 696 beds,placing the medical service capacity at 0.16 beds and 0.019 doctors per 1,000 people.By 2019,a basic health care system had been set up,with 18,376 medical institutions cov-ering urban and rural areas,providing a total of 186,426 beds.The infant mortality rate dropped from over 400 per 1,000 in 1949 to 6.75 per 1,000 in 2020.The average life expectancy rose from less than 30 in 1949 to 74.7 in 2019.
Evolving policies and regulations： The application of family planning measures in China was gradually extended from coastal and inland to border regions,from urban to rural areas,and from the Han people to ethnic minorities.Preferen-tial policies were implemented for ethnic minority groups.
In line with local conditions and in accordance with state laws and regulations,Xinjiang formulated its own family plan-ning policies.Family planning was first applied to the Han people in the region in the early 1970s,and ethnic minorities were exempt until the mid and late 1980s.The Measures on Family Planning released by the autonomous region in 1992 stipulated that urban Han residents could have one child per couple and those residing in farming and pastoral areas could have two,while for ethnic minorities,urban residents could have two children per couple and those in farming and pastoral areas could have three.Ethnic minority groups with smaller populations were not required to follow the family planning policy.This was one ofthe main reasons why the ethnic minor-ity populations in Xinjiang maintained a rapid growth rate.
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