Plans needed to better manage country's floating population

According to the seventh national census, China's urbanization rate has reached 63.89 percent, with the floating population numbering about 376 million, up nearly 70 percent, in the past 10 years.

Before the launch of reform and opening-up, the floating population was regarded as a "problem". But over the past 40 years, with the continuous advancement of the country's urbanization policy, rural residents have migrated from the countryside to the cities for better paying jobs.

As a result, the policy relating to the floating population has become more inclusive, with local governments shifting from management of the floating population to providing them with services. According to the latest census, population mobility has become a prominent national phenomenon, and people should realize its significance, so as to make good use of the trend, and promote the common prosperity of urban and rural residents.

However, the country also needs a more systematic medium- and long-term plan for the floating population.

The authorities should systematically study major issues such as the distribution of the floating population and productive forces, and public services and fiscal and tax policies.

Public services should be further improved to increase the resilience of the cities that are seeing a large influx of migrant workers, while the construction scale and other aspects in cities with population outflows should be adjusted to improve the efficiency of resource utilization.

The population policy should involve efficient transfer and sharing of public services between cities. In recent years, most city governments have realized that the floating population helps better develop cities and try every means to retain them.

As such, cities with huge floating populations should be given reasonable authorization and policy space to provide better infrastructure and public services to the floating populations.