China's population is moving to the cities - and it's growing greyer

Half of China's 1.34 billion population live in cities and towns, according to new census figures that point to the daunting tasks ahead for Beijing as the nation grows older.

The census, which showed overall population growth slowing sharply in the decade to 2010, revealed fewer Chinese than some demographers had expected and could spur calls for China's tough family planning policies to be relaxed.

China remains the world's most populated country but the rise of 5.8 per cent was almost half the pace recorded in the last census a decade earlier. Some experts had expected China's population to reach 1.4 billion.

"China is for the first time crossing a historical landmark from a country that's dominated by people engaging in agriculture, living in the countryside, to an urbanised society," said Wang Feng, a demographer who is director of the Brookings-Tsinghua Center for Public Policy in Beijing.

The mammoth task of counting China's population required six million workers and revealed a population that in a single decade increased by 75 million.

The census showed the proportion of young Chinese shrinking as the elderly population grows. Many demographers have said China's choke on family size threatens the future of the world's fastest-growing major economy as fewer people are left to pay and care for a greying population.

The report points to pressure for wage levels to rise as the working-age population shrinks, a need for social safety nets to support an ageing nation and stress on urban infrastructure as rural migrants flood to cities such as Beijing and Chongqing.

"The data from this census show that our country faces some tensions and challenges regarding population, the economy and social development," Ma Jiantang, the head of the National Bureau of Statistics, told a news conference yesterday.

The census also highlighted stark differences between China and the rival emerging economy of India, which reported its own population tally on March 31. India's population grew three times faster than China's over the past decade and is far younger.

The proportion of mainland Chinese people aged 14 or younger was 16.60 per cent, a fall of 6.29 percentage points from the number in the 2000 census. Those aged 60 or older increased to 13.26 per cent of the population, up 2.93 percentage points.Such figures could encourage the government to relax family planning restrictions that limit nearly all urban couples to one child, while rural families are usually allowed two, said Du Peng, a professor at the Population and Development Studies Centre at Renmin University in Beijing.

"The total population shows the general trend towards slowed population growth and as well an older population, and in the next five years or longer that will be an important basis for population policy," said Du.

Statistics chief Ma said the cen-sus vindicated the government's firm, sometimes harsh, family planning policies.

"These figures have shown the trend of excessively rapid growth of China's population has been under effective control," Ma said.

President Hu Jintao said on Wednesday that China would continue to "uphold and perfect reproductive policies (to] earnestly stabilise a low birth rate," Xinhua news agency reported.

The report showed that 49.7 per cent of China's population lived in urban areas by 2010, up from 36.1 per cent in 2000.

By 2010, 261.4 million Chinese were counted as "migrants".

A LAND OF 1.34 BILLION SOULS

The 2010 census puts mainland China's total population at 1.34 billion, an increase of 5.84 per cent from 2000.

In 2010, 16.60 per cent of the population was 14 or younger, a sharp decline from 22.89 per cent in 2000.

Citizens aged 60 or more account for 13.26 per cent of the population, 2.93 percentage points higher than in 2000.

In 2010, 221.4 million people had left the locality of their registered address for more than six months. That represents a rise of 100.36 million - or 82.89 per cent - over the 2000 figure.

China had 105.20 males for every 100 females, with females accounting for 48.73 per cent of the total.

Nearly half of the population - 49.7 per cent - live in urban areas.