(Yicai) April 29 -- Guangdong recorded the largest population increase among China’s 31 provincial-level regions last year, with the broader pattern showing people continuing to move toward major urban areas and economically stronger regions.

Seven of the 31 regions have reported bigger permanent resident populations for 2025: Guangdong -- which added 790,000 -- Zhejiang, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Hainan, Shanghai, Xizang Autonomous Region, and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

China’s population continues to shift from rural areas to cities, pushing the urbanization rate higher, said Niu Fengrui, director of the Small and Medium-sized Cities Research Institute. At the same time, people are increasingly concentrating in the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta economic zones, he noted.

Industrial growth has also drawn more people into some central and western cities. Changsha, capital of Hunan province, and Jinan, capital of Shandong province, each added more than 100,000 permanent residents, while Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, saw an increase of over 60,000.

Even where permanent populations fell, several regions still recorded positive net migration. These included Fujian, Jiangsu, Hebei, Liaoning, Hubei, Chongqing, and Tianjin, meaning more people moved in than moved out over the year.

Editor: Tom Litting