Special education in China
According to the 2006 census, 82.96 million disabled people live in China, an estimated 6.34% of the overall population. This statistic had a 1.44% increase from the year 1987. Men outnumber women in China’s 1.35 billion population making it no surprise that more than half of the people with disabilities are male. The number of disabled people living in the rural areas of China is 75% of the disabled population, compared to the urban which held 25% of the disabled population. Specifically relating to school-aged population, disabled children at the age between 6-14 reached to 2.46 million, 2.96% of the total disabled population. Less than 3% of China’s disabled population is in the school-aged demographic. Although this statistic is shockingly low, the one child policy contributes to much of the population decreases seen in recent history especially among school-aged children. China categorizes disabilities differently than in other nations, for example China identified 5% of their school-aged population to be in need of special education whereas The United States identified 10% of their school-aged population; this comparison is a result of China not recognizing learning disabilities or disorders such as ADHD to be in need of special services whereas many other nations do.
Educational opportunities for disabled Chinese are lacking, causing elevated poverty and poor living conditions .
Chronic disease in China
In addition to the ageing of the population, China is experiencing dramatic transformations in many social and economic conditions that will continue to increase the incidence of major chronic diseases. For example, the country has recorded spectacular economic growth since 1978 and, on average, people's standard of living is far higher than ever before in the rapidly expanding urban areas. From 1990 to 2000, the proportion of people living in urban settings in China increased from 26% to 36%, the number of cities increased to 663, and the number of towns also soared. It is expected that urbanization in China will reach 45% by 2010, and 60% by 2030, with an extra 200 million more people expected in the urban areas before 2010. This growth comes at a cost in health terms. For example, a clear relation exists between urbanization and the prevalence of diabetes in China (diabetes defined as diabetic symptoms and a random blood glucose concentration of 11.1 mmol/L or more, a fasting blood glucose of 7.0 mmol/L or more, or an abnormal result of 2-h oral glucose tolerance test). Studies suggest that patients in China who were diagnosed with diabetes in middle age eventually lost an average nine years of life, and that risk of mortality was much higher than in Western populations.