China's urban toilets to have more stalls for women

Women will find it easier to relieve themselves in Chinese cities as the country requires more stalls for them in newly-built public toilets.

Under a revised design standard for urban pubic toilets, published recently by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the proportion of women and men stalls should be three to two when building new public toilets or renovating existing ones.

In areas where the flow of people is large, the proportion should be two to one, it said.

The number of public toilets is still not enough in cities given rapid urbanization and urban population growth, said Ni Hong, vice minister of housing and urban-rural development at a conference on urban environment and sanitation.

The shortage of women stalls in urban public toilets needs to be solved urgently, he said at the meeting held in Qingdao, Shandong Province on Saturday, or World Toilet Day.

China launched a "toilet revolution" in recent years in both rural and urban areas, building more high-standard toilets. Endi