The average life expectancy of Beijing residents has reached 80.07 years, with women surviving men by 3.46 years on average, said sources with the municipal bureau of health Friday.

It reported that 63,498 people had been born in Beijing last year and 62,767 people died.

The similar figures indicate that Beijing's population growth in 2006 was approximately zero, said bureau sources.

The bureau reported an infant morality rate of 466 per 100,000 people. The maternal mortality rate dropped to 787 per 100,000 people. In rural areas of Beijing, the maternal mortality rate plunged by 72 percent.

According to the report, the major causes of death in Beijing are cerebrovascular disease, heart disease, malign tumors and respiratory diseases.

Urban residents tended to die of malign tumors while rural dwellers in the Beijing area were felled by cerebrovascular disease.

(Xinhua News Agency March 10, 2007)