From November 1st to December 10th in 2020, China started its seventh national population census(人口普查). 7 million census takers have asked each family about their name, gender(性别), age, education, employment (职业)and so on. This census is different from the ones in the past. For the first time, people can use smartphones and other digital tools to record their information.
China has a national population census every ten years. The first one was done in1953. At that time, there were about 600 million people in China. But China's population has boomed. It was about 1.37 billion in 2010.
The 2020's national population census include all residents(居民) of China. But Chinese citizens who had settled(定居)abroad and foreign citizens who were staying in China on either business or tourist visas(签证) were not counted.
"The census is very important for every citizen," said Ning Jizhe, director of the NBS. "It will help improve infrastructure(基础建设) and public services." For example, if census results show that there are many children living in a particular area, the government will know that it should build more school there.