Population to stay under 19m

The city government plans to keep Shanghai's population under 19 million through 2010, while improving the population structure and enhancing family planning services, officials told a conference on population and family planning yesterday.

Shanghai was home to 18.15 million people at the end of 2006, a 2.07 million increase since 2000, officials said.

There were 2.66 million people aged 60 or older living in Shanghai at the end of last year, accounting for 19.6 percent of the city's registered residents.

The average life expectancy for a local resident was 80.13 years at the end of 2005, a 1.36 year increase since 2000.

Shanghai's migrant population is growing very quickly, officials noted.

There were 5.81 million migrants living in Shanghai in 2005, an increase of 1.94 million from 2000. Migrant people delivered 41,700 children in 2005, accounting for 33.7 percent of births in the city.

"The city is establishing a system to serve and manage the migrant population's reproductive health from pre-pregnancy to delivery," said Xie Lingli, director of the Shanghai Population and Family Planning Commission.

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