Based on data from the 2014 annual population change survey，this paper provides estimates of number and structure of the target couples of the selective and universal two-child policy，and conducts prediction of number of births and working age population under the two-child policy．The selective two-child policy has only limited effect on number of births，while the largest annual number of births under the universal two-child policy is roughly similar to the average annual number of births occurred in the 1980s to 1990s．Long-term decline in annual number of births is expected under the universal two-child policy．The universal two-child policy will somewhat postpone the time of China’s peak population which will be slightly larger．The universal two-child policy will have positive effect on optimizing China’s population structure and balancing its sex structure．

China has just conducted the 6th national population census,with the enumeration taking place during 1-10 November 2010.Over the last few years,there have been many studies and conferences devoted to the 6th census,the central theme being challenges and suggestions as what the Population and Development Forum discussed a year ago organized by this journal.Today the journal has the forum again on the 6th census,discussing experiences from the conduct of the census.Three papers on different aspects of the census have contributed to the forum.The first paper by Cui Hongyan and Li Rui from National Bureau of Statistics of China examines developments in China’s population censuses over the last six decades,involving improvement in organization and implementation,expansion in census contents and items,upgrade in census techniques,improvement in means of data processing,and implementation of census law according to which the census is conducted.The second paper by Pang Jiangqian from Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics analyzes difficulties in conducting the 6th census in locating census objects as a result of increasing mobility,getting cooperation from residents,and recruiting competent census enumerators.Improved census approaches are discussed in the paper.The third paper by Chen Wei and Yang Shenghui from People’s University of China provides experiences and lessons learned from the 6th census based on their participation in the pilot survey and census preparation and enumeration work.Wang Qian,from National Population and Family Planning Commission of China,is invited to preside the forum,and offers critical comments to the three papers.

The 6th National Population Census of China will be taken place in November 2010. It is believed that there will be more and severe challenges and difficulties in the 2010 census. How to meet the challenges and solve the difficulties is vital to census data quality. In this "Population and Development Forum", three census and data analysis experts are invited to discuss these issues. Professor Gu Baochang, from Center for Population and Development Studies of People’s University of China, assessed the historical importance of the 2010 census in the context of sustained low fertility, rapid ageing, rapid urbanization and massive migration in China. What he conveys is that our thinking has fallen behind the rapid and unprecedented demographic changes that are taking place in China. Dr. Wang Guangzhou, from the Population Institute of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, discussed more technically on the census. He argues that the only solution to the difficulties is innovation, innovation in design of migrant survey, innovation in benefit-oriented mechanisms of census organization and conduct, and innovation in techniques in census chain of command. Dr Cui Hongyan, from the Population Section of National Bureau of Statistics of China, has been directly involved in the 2010 census design. She introduces the major innovative steps taken in the 2010 census in order to improve data accuracy, .the most important of these is the change of enumeration approach from permanent (de jure) residents to actual (de facto) population.