China to help more rural migrants settle in cities

BEIJING - China will ease household relocation policies in 2016 to help more migrants settle in cities, an official with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said Tuesday.

In the 13th Five-Year Plan, the Chinese government plans to help about 45 percent of the whole registered population settle in urban areas by 2020.

To achieve the urbanization goal, around 100 million migrants need be granted with urban household registration, said Xu Lin, an official with the NDRC, at a press conference.

Currently about 39.9 percent of the total registered population are living in cities, Xu said, adding local authorities, especially major cities, have been asked to carry out more active and loosened household relocation policies this year, Xu said.

Meanwhile, the government will fully implement the urban residence permit system this year to help rural migrant workers enjoy equal public services in cities, Xu said.

China's urban areas have been expanding rapidly with many migrant workers swarming into cities after decades of economic development.

The difficulty for migrant workers to fit in cities has become a major barrier in China's human-centered urbanization and the government has prioritized the problem in its to-do list.

A top-level urban work conference held at the end of 2015 agreed that China's urbanization drive will focus on the integration of rural residents into urban areas.