China's urban population is expected to reach 560 million by the end of this year, up 7 percent from the figure five years ago, China Daily reports Saturday.

About 43 percent of China's population will be living in urban areas, the paper quoted Zheng Xinli, deputy director of the Policy Research Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, as saying.

During the 10th Five-Year Plan (2001-2005) period, the average urbanization growth rate was 1.4 percent annually, Zheng said at a forum on the sustainable development of small and medium-sized cities in China.

The rapid urbanization process has prodded Chinese policy-makers to pay more attention to small and medium-sized cities, which are the main places for accommodating urban dwellers on the Chinese mainland.

China has 660 cities on the mainland, and more than half of which are small and medium-sized ones. Medium-sized cities have a population between 200,000-500,000 people.

Rapid urbanization has put great pressure on the environment and sustainable development is urgently needed, according to Wang Yangzu, former vice-minister of the State Environment Protection Administration.

Source: China Daily