Festival brings to fore importance of demographic data

Spring Festival, celebrating the start of the Chinese Lunar New Year, is unique beyond being the most important festival in the world's most populous country.

Not only is it the longest holiday that most workers in China are entitled to, it also produces the largest annual human population movement in the world, thanks to the age-old tradition of family reunions that are at the center of the occasion.

This year, the Year of the Pig, which is strongly believed to be associated with good fortune, has seen hundreds of millions of workers based in cities and big towns returning to their smaller towns and villages of origin to reunite and feast with their families - including their parents, and, for many, also their spouses and children. The official forecast is that this year, nearly 3 billion trips will be generated during the 40-day travel rush from Jan 21 to March 1.