10. How to View and Raise the Present Level of Urbanization in Zhejiang

The so-called level of urbanization refers to urban population as a proportion of the total population. According to the statistics, Zhejiang's household-registered population was 45,010,000 in 2000, and its level of urbanization was 39.5 percent. However, the communique of the 2000 national population census revealed that the total population of the province was 46,770,000 (including outsiders who have lived in the province for over six months, and not including those natives of Zhejiang living outside the province). The population living in cities and towns was 22,770,000, as high as 48.7 percent of the total population. A 9 percent leap in the level of urbanization in one year is not possible. Obviously, this is the result of different statistical calibrations. How, then, should we ultimately view the level of urbanization in Zhejiang? This concerns the adjustment of the development goals for urbanization, the choice of focus in urbanization work, the perfection of urbanization policies, and the related assessment of progress in modernization. Through the demystification of authoritative data on "urbanization levels," we put forward thoughts and suggestions on accelerating the push for urbanization in Zhejiang.