China's capital Beijing is bulging with 15.6 million permanent residents and the city government may have to rein in the population growth by granting fewer "hukou", or permanent residence certificates, to new settlers in the coming years.

Beijing had 15.6 million permanent residents at the end of last year, a rise of 1.4 percent, or 220,000 people, from 2005, said Deng Xingzhou, head of the city's family planning committee, at a press conference Thursday.

The city has an additional 4 million migrants.

About 12 million of the permanent residents hold Beijing "hukou" permits and most of the remaining 3.6 million have secured jobs and even bought homes that enable them to settle down in the Chinese capital, Deng said, quoting the results of a recent survey by the municipal statistical bureau.

Of the new permanent population 122,000 were new settlers and about 98,000 were newborn babies.

The influx of new settlers had slowed from around 160,000 people in 2005 but was still huge compared with the average annual increase of 50,000 to 60,000 new settlers in the mid 1990s, according to Deng.

Overpopulation is putting considerable pressure on the city's natural resources and environment. Water shortages are set to reach crisis point in 2010, when the population will top 17 million -- three million more than its resources can feed.

The Beijing government has vowed to limit its permanent population to 18 million by 2020.

Deng said his organization has reported the situation to the municipal government with proposals to rein in the rapid expansion.

He said the city might need to make it more difficult for new settlers to get "hukou" certificates in Beijing in the coming years.

Beijing currently issues permanent residence certificates to college graduates who have secured jobs as government employees, teachers at public schools, research fellows or workers at state firms.

Spouses and children of these professionals and servicemen can also apply for permanent residence in Beijing.

(Xinhua News Agency January 27, 2007)