Finding middle ground

China must focus on developing counties, which are more affordable and practical for rural migrants than the big cities

The recently issued guideline on promoting urbanization in counties is a sound decision made in line with China's current situation and urbanization progress, as a growing number of rural migrant workers are choosing to get employed and settled in counties.

Since China launched the reform and opening-up policy in 1978, many farmers have left their hometowns and worked in urban areas. By 2021, there were 290 million rural migrant workers in urban areas. After the Chinese government changed its methods of calculation, people living and working in cities for six months or longer are now recognized as urban residents. As a result, China's urbanization rate has reached 64 percent. However, urban residents with a household registration, or hukou, and those without hukou have not enjoyed the same right of access to public services. The urbanization rate of the registered population is only about 45 percent. Therefore, household registration restrictions should be further lifted.

For China's central and western areas with population outflows, promoting reform of the household registration system is less challenging, while it is difficult in regions with great population inflows. Migrant rural workers also face practical problems in settling down in megacities because of high living costs in these big cities, especially housing prices. Moreover, public services for residents with or without hukou in urban areas are largely different. Rural migrant workers find it difficult to afford education for their children, medical care, social security on top of daily living expenditures.

Lacking urban household registrations, migrant populations might be frustrated. The gap in public services can affect the willingness of rural migrant workers to settle down in megacities. They are also concerned about education and healthcare for their left-behind children and the elderly, and maintenance of homesteads and houses lying idle in their hometowns, even if they can get compensation from contracted lands.

There is a major change in the indicators on China's migrant rural population. Since migrant workers cannot afford to buy houses in megacities, it is more practical for them to settle down in their home counties. The care and education for the left-behind children and the elderly, as well as improving infrastructure and public services in counties, have attracted migrant workers to settle down in counties. Immigrant workers who are getting old can become urban residents in counties, since housing prices and living costs in counties are much lower than in big cities.

Moreover, rural people used to build new houses in their villages in the past, but now they are keen to purchase houses in counties to get better education, medical care and other public services.

Therefore, a growing number of rural migrant workers have returned to settle down in counties in the central and western regions. The fact that many rural migrant workers settle down in counties in line with their practical demands is a result of social transformation and institutional changes in the urbanization drive.

The Chinese government used to focus on developing municipalities, provincial capital cities and administrative centers, resulting in the uneven distribution of resources between different regions and even within regions. The development of counties can improve the weak points of urbanization, guide the rural population to shift from the agricultural sector to the industrial sector, enhance infrastructure and public services, and transform rural migrant workers into urban residents in their home counties. That can drive economic growth in counties, promote urban-rural integration and boost surrounding towns for the coordinated development of all level cities in China.

To boost the urbanization of counties, local authorities should not copy the development models of big cities or develop overly high standards for vanity projects with little practical use in improving rural infrastructure and public services. Efforts are needed to make counties livable and affordable for rural residents and promote the development of various industries, so as to drive rural revitalization and urban-rural integration.

The author is an independent economist.The author contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

Contact the editor at editor@chinawatch.cn