China proposed changes on Friday to its household registration system, calling for more cities to abolish restrictions that have impacted migrant workers for decades, state media reported.
The permanent residence system, or “hukou”, was first introduced in the 1950s to regulate population mobility, and classifies Chinese people as either “urban” or “rural”.
Most Chinese citizens can only benefit from certain public services, including health insurance and education, where they are registered — generally their place of birth — despite a huge migrant worker population in most major cities.
On Friday, China’s cabinet, the State Council, released guidelines calling for cities to give citizens “fair” access to services despite their residency status, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
The document “very much reflect(s) the spirit of the Fifteenth Five-Year Plan”, China’s recently released economic and social blueprint for the next five years, said Ying Zhang of the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).
“So this is not surprising, though it is encouraging to see these ideas emerging at this particular moment.”
The guidelines called for the “complete elimination” of household registration restrictions on migrants’ participation in employee social insurance.
Their access to “basic medical security” in their place of residence should be strengthened, the statement added.
The guidelines also proposed improving “educational guarantees” for migrant children, including increasing the proportion of them attending public schools during the compulsory education stage.
“Promoting equal access to basic public services for non-registered permanent residents and registered residents is conducive to meeting the people’s growing needs for a better life and releasing domestic demand potential,” the State Council said.
Experts said that smaller cities in China have already implemented similar policies as part of their efforts to attract more people.
“The key question that needs to be examined is the extent to which China’s mega-cities such as Beijing and Shanghai will adopt such measures,” said the EIU’s Zhang.
