Nearly 50 percent of China's population will live in cities by the year 2020, the Beijing Times reported, quoting a China Association of Mayors report.

Three-fourths of the population will be urbanized by 2050, according to the 2009 City Development Report of China, which the association released Tuesday in Beijing.

The report reflects research from experts at leading Chinese institutions, such as the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

China had 655 cities accommodating a combined population of 621 million as of the end of 2009, about 47 percent of the national population.

By contrast, in 1949, roughly 10 percent of the total population lived in the nation's 132 cities.

Mao Qizhi, a professor with China's prestigious Tsinghua University, said the next trend in China's urbanization will be developing "ecological" and "low carbon" cities, small and medium-sized cities and small towns.

Mao Qizhi also warned of the widening regional gaps in China's urbanization. Currently, the coastal regions that account for one-fifth of the total population contributed half of the country's gross domestic production (GDP).

(CRIENGLISH.com May 12, 2010)