COUNTED: Foreigners will form part of census 2010

Foreigners living and working in China, your number is up. For the first time, the country's national census, which begins on November 1 and ends in June 2012, will include this group along with people from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. Foreigners on short-term business and tourists will not be surveyed.

According to the pilot survey questionnaire for foreigners for the upcoming sixth national census, the data collected will include a foreigner's name, age, gender, nationality, educational attainment, and purpose and duration of stay. The questions are simpler than those for Chinese citizens and are written in Chinese and English. The regulation clearly states that the information should be kept confidential and anyone who leaks the information will be punished according to law.

Various measures have been devised to facilitate expats in China to be surveyed. The door-to-door data-collection aims to employ 6 million enumerators. In Beijing alone, 100,000 census workers will be used and for the first time be joined by volunteers fluent in foreign languages, mostly college students. Where foreigners are not home, repeat visits by census workers will be made.

China has begun conducting a national population census every 10 years since 1990. The previous five censuses only covered Chinese nationals on the mainland.

"It is a common practice for various countries to include foreigners in their population census, and the move was also proposed by the United Nations," said Zhang Yi, Researcher of Institute of Population and Labor Economics of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, in an interview with China National Radio.

According to Zhang, with China's rapid economic development in the past decade, some big cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou are in the process of becoming international cities. As there were fewer foreigners in China prior to the current development boom, including this group in census taking was not a priority. After China's reform and opening up, a large number of foreign companies arrived to set up shop for investment, joint ventures and research and development purposes, which in turn attracted a large contingent of foreigners seeking opportunities. Apart from the business influx, many foreigners also now operate in China as language teachers, media workers and students.

One very good example of this influx is the massive settlement of African nationals engaged in trade in southern Guangzhou City, which observers estimate tops 100,000 people, but exact figures are sketchy due to high turnover and other factors. "In cases like this the census will be instrumental in determining precise numbers," said Zhang.

"To have a better understanding of these foreigners in China is very important for the future planning of our cities and arrangement of the urban service industry," said Zhang, adding this move will also help understand the detailed information of international population migration. Though the number of foreigners in China can be gotten at the Bureau of Exit and Entry Administration of Ministry of Public Security, more information such as the changes of their living locations is still needed in order to provide better services to them, according to Zhang.

Vital stats

Obviously the effort of conducting a census in China is a mammoth undertaking. Apart from the foreigner contingent millions of local doors need to be knocked on.

"It is a heavy task to conduct a population census since China is the world's most populous country with a population of more than 1.3 billion. But, to scientifically arrange the future social and economic development, we need to have detailed and accurate population information," said Gu Baochang, Professor of Population Development Studies Center of Renmin University of China, in an interview with ChinAfrica.

Owing to China's rapid process of urbanization, which leads to frequent population migration, many rural residents leave their original homes and seek work in the big cities. According to a report released by the National Population and Family Planning Commission early this year, China's floating population of migrant workers reached a record 211 million in 2009 with an annual growth of 6 million. Meanwhile, about 30 percent of the urban residents are now living apart from where their hukou (household registration) are registered.

Gu said having these figures is vital for China to evaluate its current one-child family planning policy, review the progress of the government's 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10) and predict the future population development trends. The census is also a prerequisite for future employment patterns, education policies and formulating the government's 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15) and beyond.

Foreigners Entries into China

Year Number (ml) Growth (y.o.y)

2005    20.26        19.52%

2006    22.21         9.65%

2007    26.11        17.61%

2008    24              -6.8%

2009    20.95         -9.9%

(Includes all categories)

Source: Ministry of Public Security