Staff sort packages at an express transit center in Shijiazhuang, North China's Hebei Province on December 11, 2025. China's express delivery service providers are faced with a surge of shipping orders due to the annual online shopping spree on December 12. Photo: VCG

China has unveiled a guideline to promote basic public services for all habitual residents, aiming to support the in-depth implementation of the people-centered new urbanization strategy, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Friday. 

The guideline, released by the State Council, outlines major tasks for boosting equal access to basic public services.

Basic public services shall be provided based on place of habitual residence, aiming to ensure that habitual residents without a local household registration, or hukou, enjoy the same access to the services as the registered population, according to the document.

The guideline also calls for strengthening education for children by increasing public school enrollment at compulsory level and expanding coverage to preschool and senior high school at the place of habitual residence. 

More cities should be encouraged to include stable, non-registered families in public rental housing, and to gradually extend housing provident fund coverage to flexible workers, said the document. 

Non-registered residents shall be gradually included in the scope of basic public services at their place of habitual residence, including child care, elderly support, social assistance, and disability services, it said. 

As China accelerates efforts to build a new development pattern and makes expanding domestic demand a key growth driver, facilitating the true urban integration of habitual residents has important practical economic significance, Huang Bin, executive dean of the Institute of Chinese Modernization at Minzu University of China, told the Global Times. 

These policies make it clear that equal access to basic public services will be advanced based on the place of habitual residence, signaling a clearer, more actionable reform direction going forward. It will also give workers a stronger sense of belonging and dignity in cities, enabling them to generate greater social value.

A core challenge is the large gap between the urbanization rate of the resident population and that of the registered population, Huang said. This means nearly 300 million long-term urban workers and residents have yet to achieve "full urbanization," and are still facing significant barriers to education, healthcare, and social security.

If many urban workers still direct most of their income and consumption back to their hometowns, their consumption potential remains underutilized, making it difficult to create stable domestic demand. Only by truly settling in cities can people develop more stable, long-term consumption in areas such as housing, education, healthcare, cars, and services, he added. 

Chinese Premier Li Qiang called for efforts to implement the people-centered new urbanization strategy, unleash the potential of domestic demand contained in the integrated development of urban and rural areas, and boost economic and social development, Xinhua reported on December 3, 2025.

Noting that new urbanization strategy is important for expanding domestic demand, promoting industrial upgrading and strengthening domestic circulation, Li said that significant progress has been made in the move nationwide in recent years, and there is still a vast space for the development of new urbanization in the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030).

China's urbanization is shifting from a period of rapid growth to a stable development stage, Li said, noting that profound changes are taking place in the population structure, urban system, and urban and rural development. It is necessary to further enhance the pertinence and effectiveness of the new urbanization work, Li added.

Targeting the urgent needs of non-registered habitual residents in education, housing, social security, healthcare, employment, and social assistance, this outline introduces incremental policies, detailed measures, and implementation requirements, said an expert analysis posted on the official WeChat account of the National Development and Reform Commission on Friday. 

For non-registered habitual residents, key concerns — children's local schooling, housing support, employment-based social security, convenient medical reimbursement, and timely emergency aid — are real and pressing livelihood issues for millions of families, said the analysis. 

The new guideline boosts the sense of citizenship for non-registered habitual residents and ensures the fruits of development and reform are shared more fully and fairly among all people, it added.