Urban residents to exceed 1b in 2030

China will have more than 1 billion people living in cities in 2030, when the total population reaches 1.5 billion, the country's top think tank said on Wednesday.

Urbanization in terms of urban residents in the total population will rise to 70 percent by then, from 52 percent at the end of 2012, according to a report published by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

This will translate to 300 million rural residents moving to cities, reducing the rural population by more than a third.

China's new leadership has reiterated the role of urbanization in driving the next stages of economic development.

Each percentage gain in the urbanization rate will help generate between 1 and 2 percent in annual GDP growth, the report said.

Yuan Xilu, deputy director of the planning department with the National Development and Reform Commission, said urbanization must be a gradual progress rather than another investment impulse.

He said one of the major obstacles to urbanization is surging housing prices in cities, which suppress domestic demand and drive capital from the real economy.

Wei Houkai, an urban development researcher with the academy, said China's urbanization level will reach 85 percent in 2050, peaking and stabilizing at that level.