China will have more than 1 billion people living in cities in 2030, when the total population reaches 1.5 billion, the country's top think tank said on Wednesday.
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Urbanization in terms of urban residents in the total population will rise to 70 percent by then, from 52 percent at the end of 2012, according to a report published by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
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This will translate to 300 million rural residents moving to cities, reducing the rural population by more than a third.
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China's new leadership has reiterated the role of urbanization in driving the next stages of economic development.
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Each percentage gain in the urbanization rate will help generate between 1 and 2 percent in annual GDP growth, the report said.
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Yuan Xilu, deputy director of the planning department with the National Development and Reform Commission, said urbanization must be a gradual progress rather than another investment impulse.
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He said one of the major obstacles to urbanization is surging housing prices in cities, which suppress domestic demand and drive capital from the real economy.
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Wei Houkai, an urban development researcher with the academy, said China's urbanization level will reach 85 percent in 2050, peaking and stabilizing at that level.Â