New National Census Targets Domestic and Global Migrants

Expatriates in China will join the country's sixth national census starting November 1st and answer eight questions on their basic information, which will not include income and religious affiliation.

Besides, the some 6 million trained census takers will focus on migrant workers from rural areas and urban residents who do not live at the places they registered with the police.

Wu Jia has more.

Reporter:

Figures from the United Nations show about 60 countries around the world are carrying out a census this year, and China will be one of them beginning in November. For the first time, expatriates in the country and people from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan will be included in the national census.
Zhang Weimin is the deputy director of the National Bureau of Statistics.

"Including expatriates in the census is an international practice but it will be the first time for China to do so. We will do this also because the United Nations suggested to us to help count the global migrant population."

Expatriates only need to answer eight questions, which are not very different from those on the entrance registration form, to door-to-door census takers.

"The purpose of the census is different from entrance registration, so it is necessary to answer those questions again. The census standard time is 12 a.m. November 1st, so any changes since entering the country will be added. Also, the census will need the information to help public policymaking in the specific communities where they live."

Feng Nailin, census director of the statistics bureau, says the large migrant population including urban residents who are not living where they registered, and hidden residents who have never registered with police, will make the census more difficult.

"China's population flow has been increasing in terms of size, range and frequency. It is very difficult to precisely count migrant workers who often move. Besides, about 30 to 40 percent of urban residents do not live where they registered originally – that is another problem. Like Beijing and Shanghai, this number could be more than a half."

China carries out a national census once a decade. Due to the country's rapid urbanization, some experts expect a huge demographic change since the 5th census in 2000.

For CRI, I'm Wu Jia.