Guangdong to grant migrant workers more rights

South China's Guangdong province plans to grant hukou, or household registration, to more than 13 million migrant workers from around the country by 2020.

To this end, middle- and small-sized cities and towns will further relax their household registration system to allow more farmer-turned migrant workers to become local urban residents, according to Peng Hui, deputy director general of Guangdong provincial department of public security.

"In addition to helping speed up the province's urban construction, the new household registration system aims to let more migrant workers share in the province's economic growth together and help build a harmonious society in Guangdong, " Peng said on Tuesday. "Guangdong encourages more farmer-workers to settle in cities and become urban residents".

Insiders said social conflict will be avoided or reduced in the years ahead when the province's large number of farmers-turned workers can enjoy the same social treatment as their urban counterparts having been granted Guangdong urban hukous.

Farmers and migrant workers from outside the province do not currently enjoy the same treatment as their urban counterparts in employment, education, medical treatment, social security and related fields.

Guangdong which borders the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions has become the most populous province in the Chinese mainland.

It now has more than 88.5 million permanent residents who have Guangdong hukous and a transient population of more than 34.95 million, the country's largest.