Unregistered citizens to get household permits

China will provide unregistered citizens with household registration permits, or hukou, a crucial document which provides them with social welfare, according to a high-level reform meeting. "It is a basic legal right for Chinese citizens to lawfully register for hukou. It's also a premise for citizens to participate in society, enjoy rights and fulfill duties," said a statement released Wednesday after a meeting of the central leading group for comprehensively deepening reform. The meeting was presided over by President Xi Jinping, who heads the group. In China, various social benefits such as medical insurance and access to basic education are based on permits known as hukou and are supposed to be in line with long-term places of work and residence. China has around 13 million unregistered people, 1 percent of the entire population. They include orphans and "black children" (second children born illegally during the strict enforcement of the one-child policy), the homeless and those who have yet to apply for one or who have simply lost theirs. Wednesday's meeting decided that registration should take place regardless of family planning and other policy limits, and those without hukou because of difficulties in applying should see their problems solved. "The number of people without hukou, their distribution and causes should be made clear ... and every citizen's right to hukou should be protected in accordance with the law," the statement said. Also at the meeting, a document to merge China's two medical insurance schemes for urban and rural residents to guarantee equal access to basic healthcare was likewise approved. The schemes' coverage, fund raising policies and fund management should be unified, the meeting revealed. The meeting called for the building of a "multi-layered medical security net" integrating different types of insurance and charity funds.