Census exercise begins in China

Massive census exercise begin in China from Sunday for a once-a-decade head count of the world's largest population. Around seven million community workers and volunteers will drive the two-month data-collection effort, knocking on doors across the country, ranging from residential skyscrapers in downtown Shanghai to remote Tibetan mountain villages. Despite the door-to-door visits, most citizens are expected to enter their information via a smartphone app, adding to rising concerns about privacy protection.

China conducts the census every ten years to determine population growth, movement patterns and other trends, using the findings to apportion resources for education, health, transportation, labour, elderly care and other services. The previous tally in 2010 counted 1,339,724,852 persons, an increase of 5.83 percent, or 73,899,804 people -- equal to adding more than the population of France over 10 years. 

The national birth rate last year was the slowest since the founding of Communist-ruled China in 1949, with many Chinese today choosing smaller families amid rising living costs.The government estimates the 2020 census could update the population to 1.42 billion, a 5.99 percent increase. The National Statistics Bureau, which oversees the census, vowed in May that all personal data gathered during the process will be kept strictly confidential and used for no other purpose than the census.