Urbanization in China: Population and Land

1. Urbanization in China:Population and Land Di Chengfeng Beijing Normal University 2013.6.14-15 Budapest

2. Urbanization • …… the physical growth of urban areas as a result of rural migration and even suburban concentration into cities • The urbanization of population • increase of urban population • proportion of urban population in total population • The urbanization of land • expansion of urban land

3. Overview of China’s Urbanization Rate of Urbanization in China (1949-2010) (%) • Before economic reform(1949-1979) : Crawling under 20% • After economic reform(since 1980): Running by small steps, up to 49.70% in 2010 and 51.3% in 2011

4. Overview of China’s Urbanization

5. Overview of China’s Urbanization

6. Process of China’s Urbanization • 1950-1978: Counter-urbanization • Major factors • Development strategy of industrialization with priority of heavy-industry with limited resources under system of planned economy • Institutional arrangements on Chinese urban-rural segregation including the household registration (Hukou) system • Political arrangement of sending urban youth to countryside to do farm works

7. Process of China’s Urbanization • 1979-2002: Urbanization based on industrialization in rural area and development of small cities and towns • Major factors • Economic reform to market economy • Release of rural surplus labor • Policy of giving priority to development of small cities and towns with development of medium and big cities as supplement • Development of rural enterprises • Emerging of small cities and towns (See the table)

8. Process of China’s Urbanization Quantity of small cities and towns in China since 1981

9. Process of China’s Urbanization • Since 2002: Transforming to urbanization based on coordinated development of towns and cities of various scale • Major factors • Increased demand for cheap rural labors due to deepening of economic reform and industrialization • Loosening of the household registration system in some cities • Need for scale of economy and market resulting from evolving of industrialization

10. Some Problems of China’s Urbanization • Imbalance between urbanization of land and urbanization of population • Imbalance between urbanization of population and farmers’ citizenization

11. Imbalance between land and population urbanization • Statistics from different sources • The build-up areas in cities has increased by 7.2%, while the population in the areas increased only by 4% during 1999-2007. - The National Development and Reform Commission • The build-up areas above prefecture level expanded 70.1% but population absorbed in the areas increased only by 30% from 2001 to 2007. - China Urban Development Report 2009 • More data - China Statistical Yearbook & China Statistical Yearbook of Urban Construction

12. Change of built-up area and population density in Chinese cities since the 1980s Source: China Statistical Yearbook，China Statistical Yearbook of Urban Construction

13. Imbalance between land and population urbanization • Problem implied in the statistics Low efficiency of urban construction land utilization • Status of land endowment • Arable land per capita ＜ 0.1 hectare ＜ ½ of the world average ＜ ¼ of the developed countries • Result of the imbalance of urbanization • Per capita urban land available ＞ 120 m2 ＞ 82.4 m2 for developed countries averagely ＞ 83.3 m2 for developing countries averagely

14. Imbalance between urbanization of population and rural-urban migrants’ citizenization • Measuring urban population • Permanent urban residents (with hukou), and • Rural population living in cities or towns over 6 months but without identity of citizenship (urban hukou) – the floating population • Gap between urban population and citizens • 300 million of nonresident migrants in cities and towns • Real rate of urbanization is about 35% in 2010 after deducting the 300 million (compared with 49.7% of the rate of registered urban population in 2010) -- peri-urbanization

15. Imbalance between urbanization of population and rural-urban migrants’ citizenization • Migrant rural workers is the largest challenge to urbanization • Less access to sufficient housing, health services within social security and compulsory education for their children because of their nonresidential identity • Separation with their family, esp. children Age of Migrant Rural Worker in 2007

16. Institutional reasons for the imbalances • Slow population urbanization resulting mainly from Household Registration System • Fast land urbanization resulting mainly from the Land Supply System • Land acquisition and land leasing – right to use • Local government’s tax revenue

17. Institutional reasons for the imbalances Land leasing and revenue in China since the 1990s Source: China Statistical Yearbook, China Statistical Yearbook of Urban Construction

18. Some conclusions • Extensive urbanization focusing on expanding urban area is unsustainable, while intensive urbanization focusing on improving land utilization is necessary • Reform of house registration system will be crucial for effective population urbanization • Institutional reform of farmland transfer should benefit farmers with more choice and compensation