China is launching its sixth national population census Monday, ten years after the last one, as the world's most populous nation seeks a clearer and up-to-date picture of its population.

From Novvember 1 to November 10, more than six million census takers are to go door to door and visit over 400 million households across the country, recording family information and finishing the first stage of the census.

In order to have more accurate figures, from November 11 to November 30, another round of census-taking will be launched, though on the smaller scale of 1/10,000 of the population, officials with the country's National Bureau of Statistics said.

Statistics will be calculated in December, with the key data scheduled to be released by the end of April 2011, sources said.

In the last census, China's population stood at 1.29533 billion.

(Xinhua News Agency October 31, 2010)