Society

Beijing population to reach 21m by 2020

By Jia Xu (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-06-18 16:32

Beijing has 17.55 million permanent residents, and the number will rise to 21 million by 2020, according to a paper recently prepared by the city government, the China Business Times reported on Friday.

That's higher than the estimate from the 2003 Beijing Urban General Plan, which predicted a population of 18 million by 2020. The prediction was based on an evaluation of ecology, water resource capacity and employment growth patterns, among other criteria.

The fact that Beijing reached almost 18 million in population ahead of the time predicted means the city is undergoing great pressure on natural resource usage, and experiencing serious social and environmental problems in education, job opportunities, and transportation.