Migrants restore population balance

SHANGHAI - In response to the sharp increase seen during the past decade in the migrant population living in this megacity, experts are calling for a reform of the policies used to manage population changes.

According to the sixth national census, conducted in November last year, Shanghai now contains 23.02 million residents, who make up 1.72 percent of the mainland population. That figure was up from the year 2000, when the latest census said Shanghai was home to 1.32 percent of everyone living on the mainland.

The population statistic, which counts both those who have Shanghai hukou, or permanent residence permits, and migrants who have stayed in the city for more than six months but do not have hukou, increased by nearly 38 percent during the past decade. That means the population in Shanghai increased at a much faster rate than did the population in all of China, which rose by 5.8 percent during the same period.