By Ho Ai Li, China Correspondent
A migrant worker having his lunch at a construction site in Hefei, Anhui province. There are 665 million people living in China's urban areas, reflecting the former agricultural country's rapid transformation. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
BEIJING: One in two Chinese people now lives in a city, the country's latest census released yesterday revealed. It also showed population growth has slowed and the population is ageing.
There has been a substantial increase in China's 'floating' population as well - people living away from their hometowns for at least six months - in the decade that ended last year.
The findings indicated that there are daunting policy-making tasks ahead for China, and could spur calls for its tough family planning policies to be relaxed.
China remained the world's most populous nation with 1.34 billion people, according to the census. Its population increased by 73.9 million - equal to the population of Turkey, or California, Texas and Ohio combined - over the 10 years, a slower rate than in previous decades.
Almost half - 665 million people - now live in urban areas, underlining the former agricultural nation's rapid transformation.
'This is mainly a result of rapid economic development and the transformation of our country's rural labour force,' said commissioner Ma Jiantang of the National Bureau of Statistics yesterday.
In particular, the developed coastal regions saw their populations increase. Prosperous Guangdong has leapfrogged rural Henan and Shandong to become China's most populous province.
The number of floating 'migrants' surged 82.9 per cent to 221.4 million.
The latest snapshot of China's demographic structure highlighted several challenges faced by Beijing.
The sharp growth in the number of migrants, for one thing, has put increased pressure on cities to provide social services for the newcomers and intensified calls for an end to discrimination against them.
China's hukou, or national household registration system, ties people to the place where they were born and bundles social services with residence status. Migrants do not enjoy the same services as residents.
Yesterday's census results also showed that those 65 years and older now make up a larger share of the populace at 8.9 per cent; those under 15 account for 16.6 per cent, a drop of 6.3 percentage points.
In recent years, many have urged Beijing to relax its infamous one-child policy and allow urban couples to have two children to pre-empt problems from a greying population.
But Mr Ma yesterday credited that policy with helping to keep China's population in check. Its annual population growth rate has slowed to 0.57 per cent from 2000 to last year, from 1.07 per cent in the previous decade.
On Tuesday, two days before the census results were released, Chinese President Hu Jintao said at a meeting with senior leaders that the current family planning policy should stay and low birth rates should be maintained.
Scholars invited to speak at the meeting also opposed any change to the policy, according to Peking University demographer Li Yongping.
Others, though, noted that Mr Hu had stressed the need for research and the complexity of China's population issues.
He also highlighted the continued gender imbalance among newborns in China - the latest census figures put the ratio of baby girls to boys at 100:118.6, up from 100:116.9 in 2000.
Many Chinese still prefer boys, and some choose to abort girls, Professor Li noted.
'Parents don't think about whether giving birth to a boy will lead to social problems. Their sons may not be able to get wives,' he said.
The sharp growth in the number of migrants has put increased pressure on cities to provide social services for newcomers and intensified calls for the end of discrimination against them.
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