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According to the most recent survey by China’s National Bureau of Statistics, Beijing’s population reached 15.4 million in 2005. However, latest estimates by the city’s Commission of Population and Family Planning put the total at 17.4 million. This figure comprises 12 million permanent residents and 5.4 million transients. A report by Peking University’s Institute of Population Research predicts that the influx of economic migrants from other parts of China will boost Beijing’s population to 20 million by 2020. Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics data shows that the city’s population has doubled since 1978, when it stood at 8.7 million, although the rate of increase has slowed recently.

The capital’s birth rate has stayed close to the six per 1,000 mark for the last 10 years, dropping to just over five per 1,000 in 2003. The current level is significantly down on pre 1990 figures and represents just one third of the 17.29 per 1,000 recorded in 1987. This indicates that China’s family planning initiatives and one-child policy have had a major impact on family sizes. The average household size is 2.7, below the national average of just over three people. Beijing’s resident population is 50.6% male and 49.4% female. The average life expectancy for men in the city is 74 and 78 for women, according to the most recent national census, in 2000.