China population: free flow of labour ‘vital’ to the health of poorer regions as national workforce shrinks
- The population of Jiangxi rose by some 100,000 in 2022, with around 90 per cent of growth coming from an inflow of people from other provinces
- ‘Migration and flow of population’ is one of the solutions to counter negative economic impacts from the country’s demographic crisis
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China reports first population decline in 6 decades, with birth rate at record low in 2022
Free migration of workers is essential to the health of local economies in China, demographers say, amid an irreversible decline in the country’s population.
Three provinces and a city located in central and southwest China – Jiangxi, Guangxi, Gansu and Chongqing – reported population growth last year, bucking a nationwide decline of about 850,000 people, as deaths outnumbered births for the first time in six decades.
The population of Jiangxi rose by some 100,000 in 2022, with around 90 per cent of that growth coming from an inflow of people from other provinces, according to Post calculations based on official statistics.
Jiangxi is increasingly appealing to workers due to its expanding economy, which grew by 4.7 per cent last year, making it China’s fastest growing provincial economy along with Fujian. Its foreign trade expanded by 35 per cent to 671 billion yuan (US$99.3 billion).