The director of the National Bureau of Statistics said that a 1 percent sample population survey will be conducted next year to update the results of the last full census. Li Deshui was speaking on December 20 at the ongoing national conference on statistics.

China's 5th census was carried out in 2000, but the population's size and structure have changed greatly since then. The sample survey will obtain information vital to identifying new trends and informing policy.

Five censuses have been conducted since the founding of the People's Republic of China: in 1953, 1964, 1982, 1990 and 2000. The last was the first one to include investigation of housing, migration and economic activities.

New methods to gather information from migrant populations and new criteria for measuring employment and social security will also be explored.

(China.org.cn by Wu Nanlan, December 24, 2004)