A view of Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo/IC]

Ningbo in East China's Zhejiang province was ranked ninth in China in terms of attractiveness to talents in 2020, 13 slots higher than the previous year, a recent report shows.

The report was released by Ren Zeping, chief economist of Chinese property developer Evergrande, and Zhilian Recruitment, a major Chinese recruitment website.

Beijing topped the ranking, followed by Hangzhou, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Suzhou, Chengdu, Ningbo, and Changsha.

In recent years, Ningbo has become increasingly attractive to global talents.

The city attracted 166,000 college graduates in 2020, a year-on-year growth of 20.3 percent. More than 10,000 of these graduates held a master's degree or above. The number of overseas students saw a year-on-year uptick of 27.7 percent, official data show.

It also ranked high nationwide in the net inflow rate of talents in the manufacturing sector.

The report noted that the Yangtze River Delta where Ningbo is located topped the nation in the net inflow rate of talents. Ningbo was the sixth largest source of talents for the provincial city of Hangzhou, while the latter was the second largest source of talents for Ningbo.

About 40 percent of job seekers in China are migrant workers, which refers to people looking for jobs in places where they do not reside, 2.3 percent less than in 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the report.