The People's Republic of China has about 34 million more men than women on its mainland, but also has its most balanced gender ratio since the first national population census was conducted in 1953, according to census data released on Thursday.

Males accounted for 51.27 percent of the mainland's 1.34 billion people, while females made up 48.73 percent of the total, according to data from the sixth national population census released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The ratio of males was 0.36 percentage points lower than that of 2000,when the previous census was conducted. This same figure was 0.06 percentage points lower than the previous record low of 51.33 percent in 1964, according to NBS data.

Despite this, China still faces challenges in balancing its gender ratios, as China's sex ratio at birth was 118.06 percent in 2010, higher than the 116.86 percent of 2000, said Ma Jiantang, director of the NBS.

The 2010 sex ratio at birth was 0.53 points lower than the ratio of 118.59 percent obtained from a population sample survey carried out in 2005 or 1.39 points lower than the ratio of 119.45 percent recorded from another population sample survey carried out in 2009, indicating that China is still making progress, according to Ma.

"The gender ratio of 118.06 was still beyond the normal range. We must pay great attention to this problem and take more effective measures to promote sex equality in terms of employment and salaries," he said.

China's first national population census took place in 1953. Results of that census showed that males made up 51.82 percent of the population on the mainland at that time, while females accounted for 48.18 percent.

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