(Yicai) Dec. 15 -- China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region overtook the three northeastern provinces of Heilongjiang, Liaoning and Jilin in 2023 to become the provincial-level region with the oldest labor force in the country, as the young seek better opportunities elsewhere, according to the latest data.

"The age structure in Inner Mongolia and the three northeastern provinces is shaped not only by local demographic trends but also by migration,” Li Haizheng, head of the team at the China Center for Human Capital and Labor Market Research at the Central University of Finance and Economics that published the China Human Capital Report 2025 on Dec. 14. “And migration is directly affected by industrial structure, policies and government support."

"Inner Mongolia used to rely heavily on industries such as coal and rare earths. With industrial restructuring and stricter environmental policies, many jobs in these traditional sectors have disappeared. Meanwhile, emerging industries remain underdeveloped with few high-quality jobs on offer. Salaries also cannot compete with those in eastern China, which is why many young people have moved to coastal or more economically developed regions to find work," a population expert said.

Inner Mongolia's birth rate was just five per thousand people in 2023. Although there was a slight uptick to 5.52 per thousand in 2024, deaths still exceeded births, resulting in a negative natural population growth rate of minus 2.84 per thousand.

By contrast, Liaoning province recorded a net inflow of 86,000 people in 2023, reversing 11 consecutive years of net outflow since 2012. Jilin province's population outflow slowed to 153,700 people in 2023 from 270,000 in 2022 and 240,000 in 2021 and Changchun, Jilin's provincial capital, attracted and retained over 100,000 university graduates for the first time in 2023.

The five provinces and regions with the youngest labor forces are, in order of youngest to oldest, southern Hainan province, Xizang Autonomous region, southern Guangdong province, southwestern Guizhou province and Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

An aging of workforce is an irreversible trend nationwide. From 1985 to 2023, the average age of those employed rose to 39.66 years from 32.25 years. Under 15-year-olds accounted for 22.7 percent of those not in retirement in 2023 down from 38.6 percent in 1985, while the proportion of those aged 46 and above to retirement age surged to 23.8 percent from 10.4 percent.

But while the labor force is shrinking and aging, its quality is improving. Total human capital reached CNY1.1 quadrillion (USD154.6 trillion) in 2023, a gain of CNY240 trillion (USD34 trillion) from 2022.

Despite the aging workforce and smaller numbers, total human capital continues to grow, mainly because education levels are rising, as new entrants to the labor force have higher average human capital than retirees.

Editor: Kim Taylor