The State Council released a circular on Nov 8 announcing the seventh national census in 2020.

The census will investigate the size, structure and distribution of China’s population, the condition of urban and rural housing and other things, in order to provide scientific and accurate statistics support for improving population development strategy and policy, promoting balanced population growth in the long term, formulating scientific plans for national economic and social development, and achieving high-quality economic development.

Topics to be surveyed for household members will include name, ID number, gender, age, ethnicity, education level, and marital status, among others, and the standard time for the census will be 00:00 am on Nov 1, 2020, the circular said.

In addition, the circular decided to conduct the census electronically by exploring the use of smartphones to collect data, and promote the application of big data to improve the efficiency of data collection and processing.

Data collecting should be in accordance with the law, and a system of accountability will be established to ensure the quality of the data.

A leading group on the seventh national census will be established, to be led by Vice-Premier Han Zheng, with its office located in the National Bureau of Statistics, according to the circular.