Abstract: The massive size of floating population is the vantage point for understanding China s post －reform developments brought by rural － to － urban migration and urbanization． Currently，the magnitude of floating population is available from several authoritative sources，including national censuses，administrative
registration records from the Ministry of Public Security and the National Population and Family Planning Commission，and large － scale samples surveys conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics． Nonetheless，the floating population is defined variously across data sources，creating inconsistency and incomparabilityproblems in terms of coverage and enumeration method and leading to different estimates of floating population size． This paper focuses on an in － depth understanding of the definitional complexities of floating population． We provide the documentation of specifics of statistical variables used by various bureaucracies to define floating population． We argue that the definitional complexities have originated from Chinese administrative settings in the administration of floating population． The complexities are also affected by different paces of socioeconomic reforms across regions．

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摘要： 流动人口的统计口径左右着流动人口总量的结果。我国流动人口的统计已经形成定期人口普查、常规行政统计、年度调查、抽样调查等多元的数据采集体系。文章利用相关的政策法规文件、历史资料文献和深度访谈,通过对各部门流动人口定义的详细解读和比较分析,明晰各种统计口径在界定流动的时间和空间单元、登记统计方式等方面存在历史差别、部门差别和地区差别,澄清不同版本流动人口总量不一致的原因。文章认为,各种统计口径在流动的时间、空间单元和登记方式等方面的尺度标准并不统一,且随着社会经济变化多次调整而造成的这种"乱象",既与不同职能部门的行政分工和数据采集目的不同有关,也与各地户籍改革、城乡一体化综合试验进程不同步有关。

关键词: 流动人口, 外来人口, 暂住人口, 统计口径, 户籍制度