(Yicai) Oct. 27 -- Guangdong, China’s largest provincial-level economy for the past 36 years, also led the country’s birthrate for the seventh year in a row last year, bucking the nationwide decline.

Guangdong had 1.13 million newborns in 2024, surpassing the one-million milestone for the fifth consecutive year, according to the latest data released on the National Bureau of Statistics’ website. Its birth rate was 8.89 per thousand, ranking seventh in the country.

The southern province had a gross domestic product of CNY14.1 trillion (USD1.9 trillion) for the year, exceeding CNY10 trillion for the fifth time running. It also had an urbanization rate of 76 percent, the fourth highest in the country.

Guangdong’s unique demographics are a key reason for its strong birthrate, according to Peng Peng, executive chairman of the Guangdong Society of Reform. The province is China’s most populous region and has large numbers of young migrants from outside, many of whom are of marriage and child-bearing age, Peng said.

In parts of the province such as Chaoshan in the east and Zhanjiang in the west, local pro-natalist cultures also support higher fertility rates than elsewhere, Peng noted.

China had 9.54 million newborns last year, the NBS data also showed. The top 10 provincial-level regions -- Guangdong, Henan, Shandong, Sichuan, Hebei, Jiangsu, Guangxi, Guizhou, Zhejiang, and Yunnan -- accounted for nearly 59 percent of the total.

Henan ranked second with 762,000 newborns, followed by Shandong with 649,000, and Sichuan with 536,000. Hebei, Jiangsu, Guangxi, Guizhou, Zhejiang, and Yunnan each surpassed 400,000. Jiangsu reported the first increase last year, up by 17,000 to 426,000 from the previous year.

By birthrate, a total of 14 provincial-level regions outpaced the national average of 6.77 per thousand, 10 of which exceeded eight per thousand. They were mostly in the western and southern regions of China.

Eleven provincial-level regions saw growth in natural population, up from eight in 2023. Concentrated in the western and eastern coastal areas, they include Xizang Autonomous Region, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Yunnan, Guangxi, Guizhou, Qinghai, Guangdong, Beijing, and Fujian.

Editor: Futura Costaglione