2015年CRI Experts on China's Latest Hukou Reform（在线收听）

According to the National Population Census in 2010, there are 13 million unregistered people in China, accounting for 1 percent of its population.

The Public Security Ministry declared last week that it would help these citizens obtain proper recognition.

Wan Haiyuan, from the country's top economic planner, the NDRC, says without hukou, the lives of these people are largely tough.

"The figure of 13 million outnumbers the entire populations of some foreign countries. Without Hukou, it's difficult for them to find a job or lead a smooth life."

Without a hukou, a person in China is denied access to welfare benefits like public education and reimbursement for healthcare costs.

Wan Haiyuan led a survey last year, covering 15 provinces and autonomous regions in the country.

It found more than 60 percent of those unregistered are from families violating the old family planning policy.

Other unregistered people include abandoned children, children born out of wedlock and those whose documents are missing.

Wan Haiyuan warns a new social problem is looming and it needs effective policies to address it.

"These people don't have registration records and neither do their spouses or children. Without efficient measures introduced, a new social stratum will be solidified and it may affect social stability."

Wan agrees on the hukou-granting move, but suggests the government do more before it puts the plan into practice.

"The management of Hukou in China involves more than 10 government departments, so the first and most important thing is to make them work in a coordinated way. Then, the government also has to think about how to enhance the current social security system to cover such a great number of newly registered people."

But Zhang Yi with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences advocates it's more important now to build legal grounds for the move.

"The family planning law should be repealed or revised, making the violation of the one-child policy unneccessary for household registration."

Zhang Yi believes the capacity of the country's public service system is enough to serve all of the newly registered.

"It won't bring a big problem since the 13 million people are scattered throughout the country. A single province or autonomous region accommodates no more than 1 million, with which the current public service system is able to deal."

China officially promulgated the family register system back in 1958 to control the movement of people between urban and rural areas amid a severe supply shortage.

Since the Third Plenum of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in 2013, the top leadership has issued several documents on hukou reform, signaling a determination to reform the system.

In late 2013, the government first relaxed the family planning policy, allowing couples to have a second child if one spouse was an only child.

This October, it introduced an overall two-child policy, reducing the possibility of people remaining unregistered due to a violation of the country's laws.

For CRI, I'm Luo Wen.