The total population of Beijing is expected to exceed 15.5 million by 2010.

A Beijing-based research institute on demographics predicts the number of people in the city will reach the peak of some 17 million in 2025.

The institute suggests Beijing may also witness a rising number of elderly people, about six million by 2045.

It adds the number of migrant people in the city hit nearly 4.1 million in 2003, with a growth of about one million from 2000. More than 80 percent of them are engaged in wholesale, retail, catering, manufacturing, construction and service sectors.

By the end of 2003, there were more than 14.5 million permanent residents in Beijing.

(CRI August 2, 2005)