China’s biggest cities shrank last year – but they might have a more ‘disastrous’ problem
- State-owned Economic Daily says multiple factors including active controls can shrink numbers in major cities, which should not spark too much alarm
- A declining youth population and fewer new births ‘will have a disastrous impact on all industries in China in the long term’, analyst in Beijing warns
In a commentary on Saturday, state-owned Economic Daily said that while the population decline last year in the four largest mainland cities – Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen – should be taken seriously, it should not cause too much anxiety.
“The decrease in resident populations in Beijing and Shanghai is the result of the megacities’ active and reasonable control of population size based on resource conditions and functional positioning,” the article said.
According to official data, the four cities reported a combined loss of more than 275,000 people last year.
Megacities Beijing and Shanghai are no strangers to such declines, as they have strict population inflow policies in place to restrict rapid urban expansion. However, it is a new trend for manufacturing and tech hubs Guangzhou and Shenzhen, which had seen the fastest population growth in the country between 2010 and 2022.
The number of Guangzhou residents fell by 76,500 to 18.73 million in 2022, while Shenzhen shrank to about 17.68 million, a drop of 19,800.