How to understand the urbanisation rate in China? Cities Development Initiative for Asia  

Cities Development Initiative for Asia 如何理解中国的城镇化率？ How to understand the urbanisation rate in
China?
2012 年 3 月
March 2012
国家发改委城市和小城镇改革发展中心副主任邱爱军博士撰写
by Dr. QiuAijun, Deputy Director General, China Center for Urban Development
国家发改委城市和小城镇改革发展中心是亚洲城市发展中心的国家伙伴组织
China Center for Urban Development is a Chinese National Partner Organization of Cities
Development Initiative for Asia
CDIA is supported by:
Cities Development Initiative for Asia P a g e | 2 如何理解中国的城镇化率？
诺贝尔经济学奖获得者斯蒂格利茨曾预言，中国的城市化和美国的高科技将是影
响 21 世纪人类发展的两大因素。“十二五”规划纲要及有关文件均明确指出要“积极
稳妥推进城镇化”。事实上，作为转变发展方式、扩大国内需求的战略重点，城镇化
不仅作为国家战略，而且各省、市，甚至小城镇均将城镇化作为推动其经济社会发展
的重要抓手。国家统计局公报显示，2011 年末中国大陆城镇人口占比首次超过 50%，
达到 51.3%。从 1978 年的 17.92%上升到 2011 年的 51.3%，城镇化的“快速”增长的
确是我国经济社会发展的重要成果。然而，我们要清醒地认识和理解中国的城镇化
率，以免盲目乐观，误判形势。
根据国务院有关文件，中国城乡划分的基础是中国的行政区划；划分的对象是民
政部门确认的居民委员会和村民委员会；划分的依据是实际建设情况，即已建成或在
建的公共设施、居住设施和其它设施。
首先，我们要弄清统计中城镇人口的地理范围。城镇包括城区和镇区。城区是指
在市辖区和不设区的市，区、市政府驻地的实际建设连接到的居民委员会和其他区
域。镇区是指在城区以外的县人民政府驻地和其他镇，政府驻地的实际建设连接到的
居民委员会和其他区域。与政府驻地的实际建设不连接，且常住人口在 3000 人以上的
独立的工矿区、开发区、科研单位、大专院校等特殊区域及农场、林场的场部驻地也
视为镇区。城镇以外的区域则为乡村。
其次，我们要弄清城乡划分的基础，即行政区划。中国城镇的行政区划具有两大
特征：一是城镇具有行政级别，城镇之间存在隶属关系。中国城镇的行政级别大致分
为五个层次：直辖市（省部级）——副省级市（副部级）——地级市（司局级）——
县级市（处级）----建制镇（科级）。一般而言，城镇之间根据行政级别的高低依次
形成上下级关系，比如地级市管县级市、县级市管镇。2009 年，中国有 654 个城市和
19711 个建制镇。其中，省级直辖市 4 个，副省级城市 15 个，地级市 268 个，县级市
367 个。二是城镇的管辖区内包含大面积的乡村地区。一方面通过实行“市带县”体
制将乡村纳入城市管辖范围。地级以上城市均管辖若干县，而县主要由乡村组成；另
一方面，通过行政区划调整将乡村纳入城市管辖范围。中国先后通过“整县设市”、
“地区行政公署改市”和“乡改镇”等一系列行政区划调整，将大批乡村纳入城镇管
辖范围。结果，即使设区市的“区”也包括了大面积乡村，如北京市朝阳区是著名的
北京的中央商务区，但其下辖的乡在 2010 年仍多达 19 个，而乡是纯粹的乡村地区。
再次，我们要弄清城乡划分的对象，即居/村民委员会。中国城镇的基本单元是居
民委员会，乡村的基本单元是村民委员会。居民委员会管理具有非农业户籍的人口，
村民委员会管理具有农业户籍的人口。改革开放前，一方面严格限制乡村人口向城镇
流动，另一方面非农业户籍包含了很多乡村人口难以获得的福利内容。改革开放三十
多年后的今天，尽管人口从乡村向城镇流动的障碍逐步消除，但非农业户籍仍然附带
着一定的福利，依然是享受城镇公共服务的基本条件和依据。据此，养老保险有城乡
之别、基本医疗保险有城乡之别、义务教育有城乡之别、保障性住房有城乡之别、甚
至就业培训等等也有城乡之别。2010 年，非农业户籍人口只占全国总人口的 34.17%，
Cities Development Initiative for Asia P a g e | 3 同时居住在城镇范围内半年以上的常住人口则占到全部人口的 49.68%，二者相差
15.51 个百分点。以 2011 年为例，6.9 亿城镇人口中，2.3 亿为具有农业户籍、在城
镇从事非农业就业的农民工。这一“流动”到居民委的农民群体还未能与拥有非农业
户籍的城镇人口享有同等的公共服务。
最后，我们要弄清城乡划分的依据，即实际建设。所谓实际建设就是以规划为依
据的城市建设，根据《城乡规划法》城镇的所有建设都必须在城镇规划区内，那些未
纳入城市规划区范围的乡村业因此不能被统计为城镇，事实上，一些村有雄厚的集体
经济实力，村庄依靠自己的力量或争取到外部支持完成了实际建设。如广西的希望小
镇，已有较为完备的公共服务基础设施，享受统一的城市供水，但却被算作乡村；同
时，很多经济发达的大城市的城区存在相当数量的“城中村”。这些地方虽然处于城
市规划区范围之内，其周边区域早已完成“实际建设”，但城镇的“实际建设”却未
能连接到“城中村”。
总之，中国的城镇化正面临着从追求“数量”转变为提升“质量”的挑战。一是
要设法让流动就业的农民工到城镇定居，并与城镇有的非农业户籍人口享有同等的公
共服务；二是要对不断完善城镇规划管理，加快城镇实际建设，让同一规划区范围内
的人口享有同等的公共服务；三是要调整统计方法，将已完成就地城镇化的乡村人口
统计为城镇人口。
Cities Development Initiative for Asia P a g e | 4 How to understand the urbanisation rate in China?
US economist Joseph E. Stiglitz, the Nobel economic prize winner in 2001, said that the
urbanisation of China and the high-tech development of the U.S. would be the two important
keys which would profoundly influence the human development in the 21st century. The
outline of the twelfth five-year plan of China clearly states the necessity of an active and
steady promotion of urbanisation. In fact, as a tactic of changing the development pattern and
expanding the domestic demand, urbanisation is not only a national strategy, but also a key
way of promoting economic and social development among provinces, cities and towns. The
National Bureau of Statistics of China indicated that the urbanisation rate in China reached
51.3% by the end of 2011. From 1978 to 2011, the urbanisation rate rose from 17.92% to
51.3%. Indeed, such rapid growth is a prominent result of the economic and social
development. However, we have to clearly recognise and understand the urbanisation rate in
China to avoid being blindly optimistic and misjudging the situation.
According to the State Council, the division of urban and rural areas in China is based on
administrative divisions, community committees and village committees recognised by the
department of Civil Affairs, and, public, residential and other facilities those are built or
under construction.
First of all, the geographic scope of urban population has to be defined. Urban area includes
both cities and towns. City means city with or without district, community committees and
other districts of which the facilities of district or city governments extend to. Town means
counties and towns outside cities. For special areas like independent industrial and mining
areas, development zones, scientific research institutes, universities, farm areas and forestry
areas, even though they are not connected to the facilities of city or district governments, they
are still considered as towns as long as they have a residential population more than 3000
people. Areas besides cities and towns are villages.
Secondly, we have to define the administrative division of urban area and rural area.
Administrative division of urban area in China has two characteristics. The first characteristic
is that there are different administrative levels in and affiliations between cities and towns.
Broadly speaking, there are five administrative levels of urban area in China: municipality
(provincial level), sub-provincial city, prefecture-level city, county-level city and designated
town. In general, superior-subordinate relationships are formed according to the
administrative levels of cities and towns, e.g. prefecture-level cities govern county-level cities,
county-level cities govern towns. In 2009, there are 654 cities and 19711 designated towns in
China. Among the 654 cities, there are 4 municipalities, 15 sub-provincial cities, 268
prefecture-level cities and 367 county-level cities. The second characteristic is that the area
under the jurisdiction of cities and towns include a huge rural area. On one hand, rural areas
are included in the jurisdiction of cities and towns through the system of “county linked to
city”. Cities above prefecture-level rule several counties which are mainly composed of
villages. On the other hand, a large number of villages is included in the jurisdiction of cities
and towns through a series of adjustments of administrative divisions. As a result, even
districts of cities include a large area of villages, e.g. Chaoyang District, the famous business
district of Beijing, has 19 villages under its jurisdiction in 2010.
Thirdly, the object of urban and rural area has to be clarified. In China, the basic unit of city
and village is community committee and village committee respectively. Community
Cities Development Initiative for Asia P a g e | 5 committee manages people of non-agricultural household registration, while village
committee manages people of agricultural household registration. Before the economic
reform and open to the outside world, internal migration from villages to cities and towns was
strictly controlled together with the rule that people with rural household registration could
hardly enjoy the benefit of urban welfare. Today, more than thirty years after the economic
reform, even though the obstacles of internal migration from villages to cities are eliminated
gradually, holders of urban household registration still enjoy the privilege of some public
services. According to this, there are differences between holders of urban and rural
household registrations in the areas of retirement insurance, basic medical insurance,
compulsory education, public housing and trainings for jobs. In 2010, non-agricultural
household registration only accounts for 34.17% of the population of the country, while those
living in city and town areas more than half an year accounts for 49.68% of the population of
the country. There is a difference of 15.51% between them. In 2011, out of 690 million of the
population in cities and towns, 230 million hold rural household registration and work in
cities and towns with non-agricultural jobs. These people who “flow” to community
committees still cannot enjoy the same public services that people of urban household
registration have.
Lastly, the basis of the division of urban and rural areas has to be defined. This basis refers to
the facilities built within the area of cities and towns. Villages excluded from the planned
area of cities and towns are not considered as urban area. In fact, some villages which have
strong economic strength can build their facilities with their own resource or external support.
For example, Hope Town, Guangxi province, has rather complete public facilities and
services yet it is considered as a village. Moreover, there is a certain number of “villages in
cities” in many big cities. Although these “villages in cities” are located within cities, cities’
public services have not extended to there.
In conclusion, urbanisation in China is facing the challenge of changing from the pursue of
quantity to quality. To cope with this change, firstly, migrant workers should be allowed to
settle in cities and towns, and enjoy the same public services that holders of non-agricultural
household registration have; secondly, planning for urban area has to be improved and the
construction of urban facilities has to be speeded up to allow people living in the same city to
enjoy the same public services; thirdly, the statistical method has to be adjusted to include the
population of urbanised village in population of urban area.
Cities Development Initiative for Asia P a g e | 6 国家发改委城市和小城镇改革发展中心
地址：北京市西城区三里河东路 5 号中商大厦 7 层
邮编：100045
电话：010-68536006
邮箱：[email protected]
网站：www.town.gov.cn China Center for Urban Development, National Development and Reform Commission, PRC
Address: No. 5 East Sanlihe Rd., Xicheng District, Beijing, P.R.China
Postal code: 100045
Tel.: 0086‐10‐68575400
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.town.gov.cn