The city of Nanyang, Henan province announced that it will use Portable Data Appliance (PDA) electronic devices for a survey of the population, expected to start on Nov 1, at a survey work conference, on Oct 10, and that it will cover 190,000 people in the city, as well as 213 counties and towns, and 761 neighborhoods.

This year's survey will cover employment situation, transportation, land rights and child indices and will be used to calculate the city's total population, birth rate, death rate and urbanization rate, and to evaluate urban quality, living condition, and the aging population.

This is also expected to help the city figure out population trends and future distribution, employment, education resource distribution and public services.