China has seen a growing size of population migration in the past decade due to the rapid shift of rural labor force to non-agricultural activities and the fast economic development .

According to a national census conducted last year, 261.39 million persons lived in places other than the towns (townships or streets) of their household registration where they had left for over 6 months.

Of them, 39.96 million?had their current residence different from the place of their household registration in the same city, and 221.43 million persons moved to other cities.

Compared with the 2000 population census, population living in places other than the towns (townships or streets) of their household registration where they had left for over 6 months increased by 117.0 million persons, or up by 81.03 percent. Of?those moving from other places in the same city of their household registration, the number of migrants?increased by 100.36 million, or up by 82.89 percent, from 2000.

China's total population had grown to 1.3397 billion by 2010.