The global financial crisis resulted in a large number of earlier return migrants in China at the end of 2008. The National Population and Family Planning Commission conducted a sample survey of the earlier return migrants in six large migrant sending provinces (Anhui,Jiangxi,Henan,Hubei,Hunan,and Chongqing) in November to December 2008. The sample includes 1177 migrant households and 81 village committees. Estimates based on the sample survey show that the number of earlier return migrants stood at 13.6 million by 20 December 2008,accounting for only 9% of the total migrant population. The majority of the earlier return migrants came from the Pearl River Delta and the Yangtze River Delta where they were largely employed in manufacturing and construction industries,however,were mostly not covered by basic public services and social security. Most of the earlier return migrants had strong desires to go back to the cities after the Spring Festival. Policy implications are discussed in the report.