Census to solve migrant mystery
By Lucy Hornby |
October 21, 2010, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THEY are the face of China's cities, building the skyscrapers and staffing the restaurants, but until now China's census takers have counted migrant workers as if they were still planting rice on the farm.
That will change with the 2010 census, when China is for the first time counting people based on where they actually live, rather than where they are registered under the household registration, or "hukou," system.
The results mean the current degree of China's urbanization, as well as previously uncounted children born in violation of the one-child policy, can finally be measured.
China will have 6 million census takers counting people door-to-door, beginning in early November, Feng Nailin, director-general of the department of population and employment statistics of the National Bureau of Statistics, said yesterday.
"The migrant population is a rather big problem for our census," said Feng, who is also vice director of the leading group coordinating the 2010 census.
China's last census in 2000 showed the population at 1.295 billion. It placed 64 percent, or about 800 million people, as still in the countryside, even though migrant workers had been flooding to cities and coastal factories for at least a decade.
A less comprehensive annual survey by the National Bureau of Statistics estimated China's population at 1.335 billion at the end of 2009.
Census takers have scoured neighborhoods to identify makeshift residences, and would canvass worker and student dormitories for the first time, Feng said.
There's still a worry that migrants in particular, or people with unregistered children, may be reluctant to open their doors but they are being assured of privacy and a discount on any fine if couples register their uncounted children with the police during the period.
But some features of the Chinese population will still remain a mystery. Census designers considered but rejected suggestions to include questions about what language people speak at home, or their religion.
"Religion falls under the category of sensitive questions," Feng said.
That will change with the 2010 census, when China is for the first time counting people based on where they actually live, rather than where they are registered under the household registration, or "hukou," system.
The results mean the current degree of China's urbanization, as well as previously uncounted children born in violation of the one-child policy, can finally be measured.
China will have 6 million census takers counting people door-to-door, beginning in early November, Feng Nailin, director-general of the department of population and employment statistics of the National Bureau of Statistics, said yesterday.
"The migrant population is a rather big problem for our census," said Feng, who is also vice director of the leading group coordinating the 2010 census.
China's last census in 2000 showed the population at 1.295 billion. It placed 64 percent, or about 800 million people, as still in the countryside, even though migrant workers had been flooding to cities and coastal factories for at least a decade.
A less comprehensive annual survey by the National Bureau of Statistics estimated China's population at 1.335 billion at the end of 2009.
Census takers have scoured neighborhoods to identify makeshift residences, and would canvass worker and student dormitories for the first time, Feng said.
There's still a worry that migrants in particular, or people with unregistered children, may be reluctant to open their doors but they are being assured of privacy and a discount on any fine if couples register their uncounted children with the police during the period.
But some features of the Chinese population will still remain a mystery. Census designers considered but rejected suggestions to include questions about what language people speak at home, or their religion.
"Religion falls under the category of sensitive questions," Feng said.
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