South China's Guangdong province has taken the lead in the country by introducing a new accumulating points system to grant urban hukou, or household registration, to migrant workers.

The province plans to attract 1.8 million migrant workers to become urban residents via the points accumulation system before the end of 2012, according to Lin Wangping, deputy director-general of the Guangdong provincial bureau of human resources and social security.

"In addition to helping speed up the province's urban construction, the accumulating points system aims to let more migrant workers share in the province's economic growth achievements together with urban residents and help build a harmonious society," Lin said at a press conference on Monday.

"Guangdong encourages more farmer-workers to settle down in cities and become urban residents in the upcoming years," she said.

Guangdong aims to achieve an urbanization target of 67.5 percent by the end of 2012.

And mass events and social conflicts will be avoided or reduced in the years ahead when the province's large number of farmers-turned workers can enjoy the same social treatment as their urban counterparts, she said.

Currently, farmers and migrant workers cannot enjoy the same treatment as their urban counterparts in employment, education, medical treatment, social security and related fields in the society.

"The accumulating points system will benefit a large number of farmers in the province," she said.

According to the Suggestions on Points Accumulation System for Farmer-turned Workers to Become Urban Residents, which will come into effect later this month, migrant workers who have more education and higher technical skills will have advantages in being granted the urban household registration.

Farmer-turned workers who graduated from junior high school will have only five points while university graduates will have 80 points.

Those who violate the country's family-planning policy, or have criminal records, will have their points deducted, according to the suggestions.

The point system is expected to attract more migrant workers to settle down in the province's small- and medium-sized cities and towns, Lin said.

Zeng Xinghui, a migrant worker from Southeast China's Fujian province, said the new accumulating points system will benefit people like him in the province, which has more than 31 million migrant workers.

"The system, which gives many farmer-turned workers new hope to become urban residents, would certainly help encourage them to work hard and contribute to the construction of a harmonious society," he said.