In 2006, the State Council sent 6 research teams comprised of staff from 14 departments to 12 provinces and municipalities to do an overall survey on the reform of the household registration system. They concluded that conditions are right for further reform in this area.

The registration system, a legacy of the planned economy era in which the population was divided rigidly into rural and non-rural households, has too many administrative functions including the management of employment, social security, family planning, ex-servicemen welfare and civil servant enrollment, China Comment magazine quoted Huang Shuangquan, an official from the Ministry of Public Security, as saying.

The current dual management system for rural and non-rural households is neither scientific nor rational, said Huang, and excessive restrictions on migration lag far behind residents' needs.

Related problems in social and economic policies must be properly addressed before further steps are taken to expand household registration reform, Huang said.

By People's Daily Online