SHANGHAI is canceling its agricultural hukou to establish a unified permanent residence system for urban and rural areas, the city government said yesterday, becoming the first provincial region on the Chinese mainland to do so.

The move is part of changes to a population and hukou policy that will give out-of-towners permanent residence permits based on a credit system which will take into account their length of stay and contributions to the social security fund, the government said in a document released on its website yesterday.

It has been making efforts in urban-rural integration for some years and currently urban and rural residents enjoy the same pension, unemployment and medical insurances.