Chinese capital Beijing's [Images] population reached 14.93 million last year, 3.6 times than that in 1949 when the communist nation was founded, the local government said.

The city's population has increased by 195,000 annually over the past 55 years, according to figures from the Beijing Municipal Statistics Bureau. The bureau said that Beijing saw slow growth of its population in the 1960s. During the period, the city's population rose by only 45,000 annually.

The city saw steady population growth in the period from 1979 and 1990. Its population reached 10.86 million in 1990, 2.1 million more than that in 1978.

Beijing's population grew by 290,000 year on year in the 14-year period from 1991 to 2004. Migrant populations, or non-Beijing natives, accounted for 63 per cent of population growth in this period.

Meanwhile, more couples in Shanghai, China's largest city are having more than one child since the family planning rules were relaxed a year ago, a report said. Since new family planning laws were enacted in the city of Shanghai one year ago, 4,413 local couples have delivered a second child.

This is 1.7 times more than the number reported during the previous year. The new rules offer more couples the chance to have a second child and do away with a mandatory four-year waiting period between children.