Corruption hits China census

Migrant workers may try to evade the census takers

By Beijing correspondent Rupert Wingfield-Hayes

China's attempt to count its massive population has already been tainted by corruption.

World populations

China 1.3bn

India 1bn

United States 275m

Indonesia 210m

Source: UN Population Division

A number of census-takers in central China have been fired after they began imposing an illegal census fee on farmers.

This follows the revelation that the census in another province appears to have under-counted the population by around 10 million people.

Officials are currently trying to count every man, woman and child in China's colossal population, in what is the world's biggest census ever undertaken.

Everyone expected the task to be difficult, but corrupt officials appear to be making matters even worse.

Most families are only allowed one child

In one county in Anhui province, officials have been discovered charging every household a census fee.

One farmer was even said to have been charged the equivalent of about $5 because he owned a tractor.

Another farmer had to pay around $14 for his six family members, according to the Beijing Morning Post.

Officials in Anhui say those responsible are being punished, but admit that illegal fee-taking is widespread and almost impossible to control.

Migrant workers

Meanwhile, in the nearby province of Hunan, newspaper reports say census officials have been unable to track down nearly 10 million people who they estimate should be living there.

It is not yet clear whether the millions who are missing are simply evading the census-takers or if they have moved elsewhere, perhaps to China's booming coastal cities, looking for work.

China's floating population - those who have left the countryside and gone to the cities - is estimated to be somewhere around 100 million, nearly 10% of the country's total population.

Trying to count them is proving the biggest headache facing the census-takers.

The Chinese Government has been forced to extend the census period by nearly a week to give more time for the census-takers to try and track them down.