家庭化遷移(jiātínghuà qiānyí): Household migration

According to the 2016 Development Report on China's Migration Population recently released by the National Health and Family Planning Commission, China's migrant population reached 247 million in 2015, accounting for 18 percent of China's overall population. This means that 1 in 6 people in China is a migrant.

The commission also said that nowadays China's migrant population is exhibiting a remarkable tendency for household migration. A young rural adult will come to work in a city first; then their spouse will join them. Later the couple will bring their children to the city.

The new household migration trend is a serious public issue that relates to a series of social problems and policies. The well-being of migrant families involves such things as housing, education and medical care. How to guarantee migrant families can live stable and promising lives and enjoy necessary public services when they settle in the cities is a problem that involves the whole of society.

Take education, for instance, although the authorities have introduced several new policies to make it easier for migrant children to attend school in places where they do not hold a household registration, there are still many obstacles to migrant children going to school in first-tier cities. These obstacles should be removed so migrant children enjoy their legal right to enjoy compulsory education.

And there are still many differences in the policies between the medical services offered to rural and urban citizens. How to make sure these new urban residents can access a city's public health services is a new task for reform.