Beijing's total population has topped 17.4 million, including
just over 12 million official residents in the household register
and 5.4 million in the floating population, said Zhang Yunli,
Assistant Director of the Beijing Municipal Commission of
Population and Family Planning at a population forum held in
Fengtai District, Beijing yesterday.
Between January and October there were 91,000 births recorded in
the household register for Beijing this year and 40,475 births in
the floating population, according to statistics. The current sex
ratio at birth for holders of Beijing "hukou," or official
residency permit, is within the normal range of 103-107:100
(male:female), but is approaching the highest limit. The sex ratio
in the floating population is greater, reaching approximately
120:100.
Downtown Beijing is more crowded than the suburbs, with the
population density of the capital center four times that of the
immediate suburbs and sixty times that of the outer suburbs, said
Zhang.
The population in Beijing is predicted to maintain this upward
trend over the next five to ten years. Beijing experienced a peak
period of births in the 1980s, and this generation is now at a
prime childbearing age. In addition, there are more couples both
coming from one-child families, and these couples are allowed two
children under current regulations.
Reform of the household registration system has led to a rise in
marriages between Beijing residents and people from other
provinces. Zhang also believes that illegal births have contributed
to the population swing in Beijing.
(China.org.cn by Yang Xi, December 4, 2007)