Zhejiang's permanent population grows to 65.77 million

The permanent population in Zhejiang reached 65.77 million at the end of 2022, an increase of 370,000 over the previous year, according to the Provincial Bureau of Statistics.

Latest figures from the bureau show that 48.26 million people reside in the urban areas while 17.51 million live in the rural areas. The urban population accounts for 73.4 percent of the total population, an increase of 0.7 percentage points over 2021.

Of the population, 34.36 million are male, accounting for 52.2 percent of the total, and 31.41 million are female, or 47.8 percent of the total. This means a gender ratio of 109.4 males for every 100 females.

There are currently 9.07 million people in Zhejiang aged 0-15, accounting for 13.8 percent of the total population, a decrease of 0.3 percentage points year-on-year. Sixty-six percent of the population are aged between 16 and 59, a decrease of 0.8 percentage points compared with 2021, and people aged 60 and above account for 20.2 percent of the total, 1.1 percentage points higher than the previous year. Of the latter, 9.81 million, or 14.9 percent of the total population, are aged 65 and above, a year-on-year increase of 0.7 percentage points.

In 2022, the province registered 412,000 births and 409,000 deaths, resulting in a natural population growth of 30,000. The birth rate fell to 6.28 births per 1,000 people from 6.90 births per 1,000 people in 2021.

Among Zhejiang’s 11 cities, Hangzhou, Wenzhou and Ningbo have claimed the top three spots in the population chart, with 12.376 million, 9.679 million and 9.618 million respectively. The birth rates in the 11 cities all experienced a decline in 2022 compared with 2021.