(Yicai Global) May 24 -- Suzhou was the fastest growing Chinese prefecture-level city, which are metropolises not directly under the central government and are not provincial capitals, in terms of population growth last year, thanks to its strong economy.

Suzhou’s permanent resident population swelled by 63,200 people last year to 12.9 million, making it the fastest growing prefecture-level city in the country by population, according to the study. This is the second year running that the municipality in eastern Jiangsu province has ranked among the top two.

People are flocking to live in Suzhou thanks to the city’s strong economic power. It ranked first in terms of gross domestic product among prefecture-level cities last year with CNY2.4 trillion (USD340.4 billion), CNY900 billion (USD127.6 billion) more than nearby Wuxi which took second place. Nationwide it placed sixth after Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Chongqing, and Guangzhou.

Only four out of the top 10 cities were in coastal regions this year, compared with all 10 last year, as population flows shift inland after the eastern coastal areas were hard hit by the pandemic.

Three cities in eastern Anhui province scored among the top 10 in terms of population growth as many companies in eastern Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces as well as Shanghai shift production to Anhui province which is closely connected with the Yangtze River Delta region. Chuzhou, Wuhu and Maanshan ranked second, third and ninth, respectively.

Qujing and Yuxi in southwestern Yunnan province ranked fourth and fifth. Some 55,000 people settled in Qujing last year thanks to its strengths in the battery, photovoltaic and aluminum deep processing industries. PV giants Solargiga Energy Holdings, Longi Green Energy Technology and JA Solar as well as battery materials manufacturer Shenzhen Dynanonic have all built in Qujing.

And Ordos in northern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region came eighth, with a population growth of 32,300. The major coal producing city logged a big jump in GDP due to rising energy prices.

A lot of people who returned to their hometowns in central and western China last year are likely to return to the east coast this year as the economy recovers now that pandemic prevention measures have been lifted.

Editors: Shi Yi, Kim Taylor