Beijing records 21.8 million permanent residents in 2022, down 43,000 from 2021

The number of permanent residents in Beijing was 21.8 million by the end of 2022, decreasing by 43,000 compared with the year before, the Beijing statistic authorities announced on Tuesday. The latest data also revealed steadily increasing income for Beijing residents in 2022 with the per capita disposable income of the city's residents increasing 3.2 percent over the previous year.

The urban population of Beijing in 2022 was 19.128 million and the migrant population was 8.251 million. In 2021, the migrant population was 8.348 million, chinanews.com reported citing data from the Beijing statistic authorities.

The birth rate of permanent residents in Beijing in 2022 was 5.67 per thousand and the death rate was 5.72 per thousand with the natural growth rate being -0.05 per thousand, according to media reports.

By the end of 2021, the numbers were 6.35 per thousand, 5.39 per thousand and 0.96 per thousand, respectively, according to media reports.

The population in the Chinese mainland recorded negative growth for the first time in 61 years in 2022, decreasing by 850,000, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics of China showed in July 2022. Observers said that negative population growth is the inevitable result of the country's long-term low fertility rate but the country's demographic dividend will not disappear as some pessimists claim.

The latest data also revealed steadily increasing income for Beijing residents in 2022 with the per capita disposable income of the city's residents reaching 77,415 yuan ($11,266), an increase of 3.2 percent over the previous year. The per capita disposable income of rural residents increased by 4.4 percent, 1.3 percentage points more than that of urban residents.

Beijing is one of 20 Chinese regions and provinces that have released data about population changes in 2022.

North China's Hebei, East China's Shandong, Northeast China's Liaoning, and Central China's Henan and Hunan provinces experienced a decrease in their permanent population. The decrease in Liaoning was the largest at 324,000.

Among the provinces and regions that saw an increase in permanent residents in 2022, Zhejiang topped the rankings with an increase of 370,000. There was an increase of above 100,000 in Central China's Hubei, East China's Anhui, Jiangxi and Jiangsu as well as South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, according to media reports.