Beijing intends to raise the number of urban residents to 60 per cent by 2020.
China will build more railways to help to raise the proportion of urban residents to 60 per cent of the total population by 2020.
That is according to a 2014-2020 urbanisation plan unveiled on Sunday by the State Council, China's cabinet, reported by the official Xinhua News Agency.
Beijing sees urbanisation as China's next biggest engine for economic growth.
At present, permanent urban residents make up 53.7 per cent of the population of almost 1.4 billion. This is lower than the average of 80 per cent for developed countries and 60 per cent for developing countries with similar per capita income levels as China.
Xinhua says the plan states that regular railways will cover cities with more than 200,000 residents by 2020 and high-speed railways with connect those with more than half a million residents.
