Drawing upon data from a sample survey of urban residents conducted in July 2005 in Shenzhen and Chongqing,this paper examines and compares income distribution structure in the two cities.The technique of inequality decomposition by population subgroups has been used to study the effects of the Population Characteristics on income inequality.There is a much higher income inequality index in Shenzhen than in Chonqing,but personal identity characteristics,such as household registration and nationality,have less influence in Shenzhen than in Chongqing.The population′s industry and education compositions are the most important influencing factor of income distribution.Since employment industry and education level are closely related,improving financial input in education and balancing education resource distribution have important implications for preventing economic risk from income inequality in China.

China’s population is at a turning point.By calculating intrinsic rate of natural increase over 1950-2006,this paper shows that the intrinsic rate turned negative in as early as 1990 despite the positive natural increase rate of China’s population.China has been gaining negative population growth momentum as a result of low fertility over the past decade.Population simulations under different scenarios demonstrate major impact of the negative momentum on China’s future size and age structure of population.Policy implications are discussed.