The age distribution changed from being a young population in the 1950s and 1960s, to an adult population in the 1980s, moving toward becoming an old population in the 1990s. Since 1949, women' s fertility declined greatly. The total fertility rate decreased from 5.43 children per woman in the 1950s to below the replacement level in the 1990s. The birth rate of Shandong was 11.28 per 1,000 and natural increase rate was 4.63 per 1,000 in 1997. According to population projections in four scenarios, the population of Shandong will still increase in the next 30 years, but it is possible that the total population will not go beyond 100 million.
Mortality is different between rural and urban areas.
In general, the mortality of rural areas is higher than urban areas. The proportion of deaths in the low age groups decreased but increased in the high age groups. The median age at death of the population is becoming older and the population dying is made up of more males than females. Type In Shandong Province, marriage is stable and the divorce rate is very low. The general age of the married population has tended to be older since the 1980s.