Up to 300 million Chinese farmers will move into cities over the
next 20 years, said a report released by the United Nations
Development Program (UNDP).
China is experiencing the world largest urbanization movement.
Fast economic growth is driving the process, said the report.
The report, carried out by Chinese Academy of Social Sciences,
predicted that, by 2010, there will be about 125 cities in China
with a population of over one million. Fifty cities will have a
population in excess of two million.
Despite fast economic growth since the 1980s, the contribution
of Chinese city clusters to the national economy is lower than in
developed countries.
Cities are still growing at breakneck pace and their production
efficiency is low. What's more, the high population density in
Chinese cities creates problems for sustainable development, said
the report.
City cluster development should be included in the national
strategy and a national system should be set up, according to the
report.
China has over 1.3 billion people and more than 800 million are
farmers.
(Xinhua News Agency July 31, 2006)