BEIJING - China will have a migrant population of 310 million by 2030, almost the same size as the population of the United States, according to statistics cited by Health News on Friday.

Wang Pei'an, deputy director of the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC), was qouted by the paper saying about 230 million Chinese will move out of the countryside to live in cities, and 80 million will migrate between cities by 2030.

He made the remarks at a forum on urbanization held by the NHFPC and Shanghai-based Fudan University. He said migration of the labor force remains an important pillar to sustain economic growth.

Wang pointed out growing migration will create a series of challenges, including children living far away from their migrant parents and poorly-educated young migrant workers facing unemployment in cities. He said the government must improve public services and social governance to help ease the problems.

In 2014, China's migrant population stood at 254 million, Wang said.