World's biggest census kicks off in China

China begins a census to acquire and record information from some 400-million households that will form a basis for policy-making in the world's most populous country.

BEIJING, CHINA (NOVEMBER 1, 2010) REUTERS - China launched a once-in-a-decade census on Monday (November 1) in an exercise that will form a basis for policy-making in the world's most populous country, but is likely to face resistance from residents wary of government officials.

Six million officials will fan out across the country from the booming cities on the eastern coast to the remote mountains of restive Tibet as they try to visit some 400 million households over a 10-day period.

For weeks in advance, green banners were put up encouraging people to cooperate with the census festoon in Beijing, in a departure from the usual red public propaganda banners.

In the last census in 2000, China's population had stood at 1.295 billion, with 800 million considered as rural based on their hukou - the household registration system that assigns social welfare benefits is based on one's "permanent" residence. For the first time, China is counting people based on where they actually live.

The exercise will cost about 700 million yuan (104.9-million USD), with 90 percent of respondents being asked 18 questions, including details about education and ethnic groups, according to state media. The results will be released next April.

"I think they are asking quite detailed questions in the census this time. They've asked questions like my birthday, the number of my family members, and how many kids I have. I think the questions were quite specific," said 61 year-old Beijing resident Wu Hanping.

The results will help measure the degree of China's urbanisation, said Wang Jing, Professor at Capital University of Economics and Business, School of Labor Economics.

"This census is beneficial in knowing where people actually live, the situation of the population distribution in rural and urban areas, the level of urbanisation, and the actual proportion of rural population in China. This is an opportunity to understand the real situation," Wang said.

The government said last July that China's urban population would surpass its rural population for the first time by 2015, with the number of Chinese living in towns and cities set to top 700 million.

Census officials in China's tropical Hainan island ran a few final trials among rural communities on Wednesday (October 28) before the real survey began.

As he visited residents in his local fishing community in Qionghai county, census official, Hong Xianrui explained that even absent residents would be recorded.

"For us here, how would we register this person? We would register his residence here but put person as absent. And as for the city where he is doing his business, the census officials in the cities will register the person as living there but without the area's residence registration," Hong explained.

The census results should chart the changes in people's living standards.

Sitting outside her house which she said she shared with 15 people, Wang Qiong, a member of China's Miao ethnic minority, some of whom still live in clusters of farming hill villages in Qionghai, said the area has seen wide improvements over the decade since the last census.

"There have been a lot of changes. In the past, there were a lot of thatched shacks and brick houses and we had to live in such houses. But now the living standards in the village have rapidly improved," Wang said of her village which holds around 300 residents.

Another demographic challenge that is expected come into light from the census result, is the growing problem presented by China's aging population.

After enforcing a one-child policy for three decades to curb the rapidly growing population, the number of people over 60 is expected to sky-rocket each year, according to China's National Population and Family Planning Commission.

The population dependency ratio, the proportion of those too young or old to work, is expected to rise for the first time after falling for over 40 years, while the ratio of those aged 15-59 is predicted to peak and then slowly start to fall.

This would leave China's younger generation supporting a much larger aging population.