China will conduct a nationwide survey of migrant people this year to better supervise and serve them, police authorities said on Tuesday.

Hostels where migrants stay will have to submit check-in lists to police, Vice-Minister of Public Security Liu Jinguo said at a meeting of the Central Committee for Comprehensive Management of Public Security.

Liu said the ministry would expedite household registration system reform to make migrant population management easier.

Existing system

The existing system divides the population into rural and non-rural households. Rural residents, who move to live and work in cities, have to register for temporary residency

But the system faces a great challenge as China experiences the largest movement of people in the world, putting pressure on urban infrastructure, public services and government administration.

According to the 2005 National Population Sample Survey, the migrant population was about 150 million, 2.96 million more than 2000. Many are rural residents seeking jobs in cities.

A National Population and Family Planning Commission report released on January 11 said rural areas still had a surplus labour force of 150- 170 million, and they would continue to shift to cities.

Though migrant workers are an irreplaceable force in the country's modernization, they have also caused public security problems. "Crimes committed by migrants are serious in certain areas," Liu said. Ministry figures show 41.2 percent suspects held in criminal cases last year were migrants.

Liu said police would join hands with other departments this year to raise legal awareness among migrants and offer them more protection and help them get jobs, houses, and education for their children to better integrate into cities.

Crime rate down

Ministry figures also show that the crime rate is down. From January to November 2006, police handled 4.19 million criminal cases, down 0.8 percent year on year. Violent crimes such as murder, arson, rape and kidnapping dropped 4.3 percent because of police crackdowns.

That led to a 0.1 percentage point rise in the public sense of security, says a National Bureau of Statistics survey.

Up to 92 percent of 102,448 respondents from 1,836 cities and counties said they felt society was safe or comparatively safe, the highest since the annual survey began in 2001.

The 2001 and 2002 figures were 81 and 84 percent, and stayed around 91 percent from 2003 to 2005.

(China Daily January 18, 2007)