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SHANGHAI: Millions of census takers began knocking on doors in China on Sunday to conduct an annual count of the world’s largest population that for the first time will use mobile apps to help reduce the massive numbers.
Around seven million community workers and volunteers will fuel the two-month data collection effort, visiting homes ranging from residential skyscrapers in central Shanghai to remote Tibetan mountain villages.
China conducts the census every ten years to determine population growth, movement patterns and other trends, using the findings to allocate resources for education, health, transportation, work, elderly care and other services.
The previous count in 2010 had 1,339,724,852 people, an increase of 5.83 percent, or 73,899,804 people, which is equivalent to adding more than the population of France for 10 years.
Much of the attention on this year’s census, which is expected to take two years to fully compile, will focus on whether it indicates any increase in population due to China’s relaxation of its previous “one-child policy.” .
The policy was introduced in the late 1970s to slow rapid population growth amid concerns about too many mouths to feed, but it was relaxed four years ago to allow two children due to fears about society’s rapidly aging China and the reduction of the workforce.
But the change has yet to translate into a baby boom.
The national birth rate last year was the slowest since the founding of Communist-ruled China in 1949, and many Chinese today choose smaller families amid rising costs of living.
The government estimates that the 2020 census could update the population to 1.42 billion, an increase of 5.99 percent.
A research institute affiliated with real estate giant Evergrande Group released a study last week that said the government’s figure was an overestimate and recommended that three children be allowed.
“If adjustments are not made, it will seriously affect the national rejuvenation and rise (of China) as a great power,” the researchers said, citing two of the stated goals of powerful President Xi Jinping.
FEARS OF THE ‘BIG BROTHER’
The study sparked a passionate discussion online, with many saying that the real restrictions on childbirth are rising costs and insufficient political support for families.
“Even a ten-child policy is useless until we create a society that is friendly to childbirth and child-rearing,” said a “liked” comment on Chinese internet giant Tencent’s WeChat platform.
Demographic experts have estimated that the two-child policy could take 15 years to have a notable effect, as other modern factors mitigate rapid growth, including increasingly empowered Chinese women delaying or avoiding childbirth, and growth. slower demographic that comes with rising national wealth. .
Despite door-to-door visits, the majority of citizens are expected to enter their information via a smartphone app, adding to growing concerns about privacy protection.
Large amounts of Chinese economic activity and payments are handled through digital apps like WeChat and its rival Alipay, offered by Alibaba-affiliated Ant Group.
Many consumers accept the resulting delivery of data on their shopping habits, travel and other personal information as a small price to pay for digital comforts.
But others are becoming increasingly concerned about data privacy and security, intensified further this year with the introduction in China of a national system of digital “health codes” that screen citizens on whether they represent a potential threat of coronavirus and which must be displayed to enter many public places.
The National Statistics Office, which oversees the census, promised in May that all personal data collected during the process will be kept strictly confidential and will not be used for any purpose other than the census.
The government in mid-October also released a separate personal data protection bill, outlining severe punishments for offenders.
