Nearly 17 million inhabitants in Beijing

The population of Beijing reached last year 16.95 million, with a quarter of migrant workers, announced Monday the municipality.

•     At the end of 2008, the population had increased in one year 620,000 people – the equivalent of the population in the capital Oslo - to reach 16.95 million people, said the Municipal Bureau of Statistics in Beijing, quoted by New China agency.
  
      One person of four in the Chinese capital is now a migrant, which reflects the major attraction exerted by this metropolis on the rural inhabitants who attempt to excape the poverty of rural China.
  
      The influx is not without serious problems in the capital, including pollution, congestion and shortage of water resources.
  
      Beijing has suffered from water shortages every year since 1999, according to media reports.
  
  Ennaharonline/ M. O.