China census: Xinjiang’s population jumps 18.3 per cent over past decade as sprawling XPCC conglomerate expands operations

Xinjiang has one of the fastest growing populations in China, jumping 18.3 per cent between 2010 and 2020

The sprawling Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC) has been a major driver of population growth, employing 3.25 million people in 2019

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The number of people living in Xinjiang was 25.9 million last year, up 18.3 per cent from 2010, census data showed. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 8:15pm, 12 May 2021Updated: 11:35pm, 12 May 2021

The population in China’s far western province of Xinjiang grew more than 18 per cent over the past decade, one of the fastest growth rates among the nation’s 31 provincial level jurisdictions, according to the latest national census.

The number of people living in Xinjiang was 25.9 million last year, up 2.5 per cent from a year earlier and a jump of 18.3 per cent from 2010, census data showed.

Over the past decade, Xinjiang’s population growth fell just behind the provinces of Zhejiang and Guangdong – two economic powerhouses home to a large number of migrants – as well as Tibet, which has the highest birth rate in the country.

The census data released on Tuesday did not include a breakdown by ethnic group for each province, which is expected to be published by provincial governments in coming months and included in a national census database later this year.

In the decade to 2020, the population of China’s ethnic minorities grew 10.3 per cent, while the Han majority expanded at just below 5 per cent, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Last year, Han people accounted for 91 per cent of China’s 1.412 billion people.

Yi Fuxian, a senior scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said it was hard to tell whether Xinjiang’s population grew because of migration or local fertility, as authorities have not yet revealed the age structure of the population there.

“Minorities used to give more births than the Han ethnic group. And of course, the tightened grip over minorities in Xinjiang did have an impact on the fertility rate but I don’t think there were drastic drops within a short period of time,” Yi said.

Xinjiang is home to Uygur Muslims and other minority groups, which according to human rights groups and a United Nations committee have been detained in “re-education centres” and subjected to indoctrination, torture and forced labour. An Associated Press investigation in June last year found that authorities were also carrying out forced birth control on Uygur women.

Beijing has aggressively denied that any human rights abuses have occurred in Xinjiang.