Alternative Data Sources

Central_Statistics_Organization

The original version of the China subregional model had a population series that ran from 1960 through 2013. The original data dictionary entry for this series said that the population series was sourced from the Central Statistics Organization and that there was data for 1999 and 2003, which was clearly incorrect. The original source has not been found and because the source could not be verified and some of the data appeared questionable, this population series is not being used. The prominent red flag was the appearance of what may have been sorting errors, where data for some provinces appeared to be switched over several years, and some large transient data points such as a large population (nearly three times the 1998 value) for Chongqing in 1970 (when the municipality should not have had data).

China_Data_Center

The China Data Center database from the University of Michigan published population data from 1949 through 2003. This data was considered as a potential source to blend with the current population data from the China Statistical Yearbooks to provide a longer historical time series. However, the two series could not be blended because the data from 1995 through 2003, where the two series had overlap, did not match.