Target for Beijing's Population in 2020 Raised, NPC Deputy Says

(Beijing) – Beijing's city government has raised its 2020 population target to 23 million after the capital failed to keep numbers below a previous limit.

The city's vice mayor, Li Shixiang, revealed the new target the capital's population at the meeting of China's top legislature, the National People's Congress, of which he is a deputy.

In 2005, the city government set a target of 18 million people by 2020. However, its population surpassed that figure in 2010 and stood at 21.52 million at the end of 2014.