China's new urbanization posts steady progress in past 10 years

Photo taken on Sept. 16, 2020 shows the night view of Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province. (Xinhua/Mao Siqian)

BEIJING, May 11 (Xinhua) -- China has made steady progress in promoting new urbanization, with its population living in urban areas on the mainland totaling 901.99 million, which accounts for 63.89 percent of the total population, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Tuesday, citing data from the seventh national census.

The proportion of the population living in urban areas was 14.21 percentage points higher than the figure for 2010 when the previous census was conducted. The pace of growth for the past decade accelerated by 0.75 percentage points from the previous decade, said Ning Jizhe, head of the NBS.

In the past decade, China has made steady progress in promoting new urbanization, Ning said, adding that the results of the census reveal the country's notable achievements in ramping up people-centered and quality-oriented urbanization as well as granting permanent urban residency to people who move to cities from rural areas.

The rural population stood at 509.79 million, down by 164.36 million from the 2010 figure.

China has conducted a national census every 10 years since the 1990s.

Accelerated population agglomeration not only reflects the trend changes of urbanization and economic agglomeration but also puts forward new requirements for improving the quality of urbanization and promoting coordinated development across regions, Ning said.