The growth in human population around the world affects all people through its impact on the economy and environment. The current rate of population growth is now a significant burden to human well-being. In the past, infant and childhood deaths and short life spans used to limit population growth. In today 's world, thanks to improved nutrition, sanitation, and medical care, more babies survive their first few years of life. Rapid human population growth has a variety of consequences. Population grows faster in the world 's poorest countries. High fertility rates have historically been strongly correlated with poverty, and high childhood mortality rates. Falling fertility rates are generally associated with improved standards of living, increased life expectancy, and lowered infant mortality.

The family planning policy adopted by the government in the early 1980s reduced the overall growth rate of population, but the massive migration from rural to urban China has supplied the much needed labour force to fuel industrialization. Without internationalization of the economy, there was no way for China to absorb the large number of rural migrant workers in its industrial sector. Therefore, a key element of China’s integration into the global economy has been the absorption of a large proportion of the rural migrant workers in its booming export sector. As such, the international orientation of the economy is intrinsically linked to the process of domestic transformation.