The population of China is expected to reach 1.39 billion by the end of 2015, with those aged 60 or over topping 200 million, said Li Bin, head of the country's top population policy agency.

Li, Director of the National Population and Family Planning Commission, released these estimates at a conference in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, on July 3.

The urban population is projected to be more than 700 million over the next five years, for the first time exceeding the rural population, according to Li.

She said the increase over the next five years will be based upon the nation's population momentum, which will begin to decline after 2015.

Population momentum is the tendency of a highly fertile population that has been rapidly increasing in size to continue to do so for decades after the onset of even a substantial decline in fertility.