REMOVAL OF POVERTY 83 its production is a large proportion (20 per cent) of the world's annual trade in wheat and rice. China should not export its problems to other countries."So I was told during my second visit to China in February 1973. Another important, almost unprecedented., achievement of China is its ability to solve the employment problem. This has been accomplished by distributing available land and other assets equally among the rural population and then creating rural institutions that provide opportunities for everyone to do something useful and participate first in agricultural improvement and then in the gradual diversification of the rural economy in order to absorb the unavoidable additions to the labour force. The movement of population from the rural to urban areas is strictly controlled., and there is no familiar influx of rural workers into urban areas to earn higher wages. This policy, while harsh in its impact on many individuals, has kept the relative increase in urban population almost in line with total population growth. (In most other developing countries, the rate of urban population growth has been twice as large as that in total population). The success of this policy is, of course, due not only to the physical control on the movement of population, enforced indirectly through a comprehensive rationing system in cities, but also to the continuing improvement in rural life itself, with opportunities for higher incomes and varied activities. Efforts have also recently been made to contain increments in urban wages in order to narrow the gap between urban and rural standards of living. Planned Population, Stable Prices One of the most significant factors in China's success in tackling its food and employment problems has been its effective population policy. China has already brought down the crude birth rate to less than 30 per thousand, which is much lower than the 40-50 range in the majority of developing countries. With a crude death rate of 10 to 12 per thousand, China's population is now growing at 1.7 per cent and probably even at a slower rate. China has perhaps the most comprehensive population planning programme in the world, based partly on late marriages. Marriage is legally permitted at the age of 18 for women and 22 for men but prospective couples are encouraged to wait until their middle or late twenties. In addition there is a policy of birth spacing of 4—5 years and a ^Birth Plan" with a kind of collective but flexible decisionmaking tp achieve a ^two-child norm'. The programme is supported by a very efficient system of family planning education and contraceptive materials. China has managed to avoid the problem of inflation by keeping the prices of basic necessities almost stable for 25 years. In August 1975, the prices of some necessities in Shanghai compared to those in 1950 were reported to be as in table II. The slight decrease in the retail price of rice was brought about