China will begin its third national sample census in early November, according to Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan on Wednesday.

The census aims to make clearer China's population and the citizens' structure and qualities. It will measure age, gender, distribution, profession, income, housing conditions, health, education, marital conditions and employment.

"The census will help us acquire a basic knowledge about the people in China and the change patterns of the country's population, which have shifted since the fifth National Census in 2000," Zeng said in Beijing.

"But greater and accelerated movements of people around the country make the upcoming census complicated," Zeng added.

China has carried out five national censuses in the past 56 years since 1949. The Chinese government decided in the 1980s to punctuate thorough National Censuses with sample censuses, which sample one percent of the population.

The upcoming one will begin nationwide at 12 AM on November 1 and end early next year, Zeng said, adding that the public should cooperate with the census departments, which will treat all data as private and confidential.

(Xinhua News Agency October 20, 2005)