Eleven of China's 31 provincial-level regions reported an increase in their population. Zhejiang province took the top spot with a population increase of 500,000 from last year, followed by Guangdong and Hainan provinces with an increase of 490,000 and 161,900 people respectively. The municipalities of Shanghai, Beijing and Tianjin came fourth, eighth and ninth respectively in the list of China's positive population growth in 2023. The 11 provincial level regions with positive population growth last year witnessed an increase totaling 1.6025 million people. The reasons for positive population growth, however, vary. In some regions the increase is mainly attributed to net population inflows, including in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai in the Yangtze River Delta, as well as Beijing and Tianjin in North China. Some are primarily driven by a natural increase, such as in Guizhou province. The increase in other regions are explained by a combination of natural and migration growth, like in Guangdong. Some 29 provincial level regions released the numbers of newborns, with Guangdong, Henan and Shandong province in the top three.
Guangdong is now the only provincial level region with more than one million births for a fourth consecutive year, and the region with the most newborns for the sixth consecutive year. In terms of birth rate, Guangdong reached 8.12‰ last year, at the top of the list, the Global Times reports.
The figures also show that 20 provincial-level regions reported a decline in their population.
