7 million flood China's cities
01/03/2007 11:53  - (SA)  

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Beijing - China's urbanisation drive steamed ahead last year with the population in the nation's cities officially growing by nearly seven million people to over 577 million, state press reported on Thursday.

This left over 737 million people still living in rural areas, the Xinhua news agency said, citing the latest figures from the National Bureau of Statistics.

The increase of 6.92 million registered urban dwellers in 2006 was up 0.9% from the previous year, consistent with an average increase of one percent annually in recent years, the statistics bureau report said.

However the real population in the cities is believed to be much higher, with the agriculture ministry reporting last year that there were 114 million migrant workers from rural areas who were not registered.

Regardless of the actual numbers, the exodus from China's farms into its cities is recognised as a historic social phenomenon.

"Our country is currently undergoing the largest human movement and migration in history," the state population and family planning commission said in a January report.

According to the report, up to 300 million Chinese will leave rural areas and descend on towns and cities to live and work over the next 20 years.

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