The net inflow of population exceeds 1 million, and these 11 ordinary prefecture level cities

Introduction: There are 11 ordinary prefecture level cities in China with a net population inflow of over 1 million, of which 6 prefecture level cities have a net population inflow of over 2 million.

The net inflow of population refers to the difference between the permanent population and the registered residence population. If the permanent population is larger than the registered residence population, it means that the urban population is in a net inflow, otherwise it is a net outflow.

Generally speaking, economically developed cities, with their high-quality social public resources and good employment opportunities, will form a strong attraction to the floating population. What ordinary prefecture level cities have a relatively high net inflow of population outside of municipalities directly under the central government, provincial capital cities, and planned cities?

According to statistical bulletins and public data from various regions, the reporter from First Financial News found that the net inflow of population in 11 ordinary prefecture level cities in China exceeded 1 million, of which 6 prefecture level cities had a net inflow of population exceeding 2 million, with Dongguan, Suzhou, and Foshan ranking in the top three.

It should be noted that the net inflow of population reflects the stock over the years, not the changes in a single year. In recent years, with the opening of the threshold for settlement in various regions, many of the registered residence in these ordinary prefecture level cities have settled in recent years. Therefore, overall, the population inflow in these areas is higher than the net inflow data. In addition, a part of the population with registered residence in a place always flows out, including Wenzhou, Quanzhou and other places, where the business atmosphere is strong and there are many groups going out to do business. The data of migrant permanent population will be significantly greater than the net inflow of population.

Dongguan, Suzhou, and Foshan rank in the top three

The 11 ordinary prefecture level cities with a net inflow of over 1 million people are Dongguan, Suzhou, Foshan, Zhongshan, Wuxi, Jinhua, Huizhou, Jiaxing, Changzhou, Wenzhou, and Quanzhou. Among them, the net population inflow of six ordinary prefecture level cities, Dongguan, Suzhou, Foshan, Zhongshan, Wuxi, and Jinhua, exceeded 2 million.

Dongguan has a permanent population of more than 10 million, while the registered residence population is less than 3 million, and the net inflow of population is up to 7.5125 million, ranking first among ordinary prefecture level cities.

Dongguan, with an area of only 2474 square kilometers, was upgraded to a prefecture level city in 1988. With the development of export trade, Dongguan has gradually become one of the world's largest manufacturing bases, forming a modern chemical industry system supported by eight major industries: electronic information, electrical machinery, textile and clothing, furniture, toys, papermaking and paper products, food and beverage, and chemical industry. After 2008, Dongguan accelerated its transformation, upgrading, and structural adjustment.

In recent years, Dongguan has targeted new generation electronic information, intelligent manufacturing, digital economy, high-end equipment, new materials, new energy, biomedicine and other fields, accelerating the development of strategic emerging industries. Among them, the electronic information manufacturing industry is the "largest pillar" industry in Dongguan, with a group of leading enterprises such as Huawei, OPPO, vivo, Huabei Electronics, Lansi Technology, and Shengyi Technology, forming a complete industrial system from basic components to terminal product manufacturing, from consumer products to investment products, with a comprehensive supporting rate of over 90%. One out of every five smartphones worldwide comes from Dongguan.

After Dongguan, the net inflow population of Suzhou, another manufacturing city, also exceeded 5 million, reaching 5.164 million people. Data shows that in 2022, Suzhou's GDP reached 239.5834 billion yuan, which is more than 900 billion yuan more than Wuxi's. It is far ahead of prefecture level cities and ranks sixth among all cities in the country. Last year, Suzhou newly recognized 5531 high-tech enterprises, with an effective number of 13473.

Associate Professor Ding Changfa from the Department of Economics at Xiamen University analyzed the spillover effect of Suzhou's benefits from Shanghai, which is particularly evident. The strong scientific and educational resources and modern service industry have helped promote Suzhou's transformation and upgrading. In recent years, Suzhou has been at the forefront of economic transformation and upgrading in prefecture level cities. Its manufacturing industry is highly developed, including biopharmaceuticals, integrated circuits, artificial intelligence, and other industries. In the process of manufacturing upgrading, the scale of research and development investment is very large, and the development of high-tech and emerging industries is very prominent.

Ding Changfa said that the development of high-tech industries has attracted a large number of mid to high end talents with high income levels. These talents often settle down in Suzhou and have their families and children by their side, which in turn drives rapid population growth.

The net inflow of population in Foshan reached 4.5983 million people, more than 2 million people more than Zhongshan, which ranks fourth. Foshan has outstanding industrial and economic strength in equipment manufacturing, household appliances, ceramic building materials, metal products, and other industries. In recent years, emerging industries have developed rapidly, with 8700 high-tech enterprises last year.

10 cities located in the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta

Zhongshan, Wuxi, and Jinhua have a net population inflow of over 2 million, ranking fourth to sixth among ordinary prefecture level cities with a net population inflow of over 1 million. Wuxi's GDP ranks second only to Suzhou among these 11 ordinary prefecture level cities. Zhongshan has 38 national level industrial bases and 18 provincial-level professional towns. Yiwu, under the jurisdiction of Jinhua, has been a key area of population growth in Jinhua in recent years. Yiwu used to be the capital of small commodities, but now it is actively transitioning towards e-commerce, with a prominent number of express deliveries and e-commerce live broadcasts.

The net inflow of population in Huizhou, Jiaxing, Changzhou, Wenzhou, and Quanzhou all exceeded 1 million. It is worth noting that the vast majority of ordinary prefecture level cities with a net population inflow of over 1 million are located in the Pearl River Delta and Yangtze River Delta. Only Quanzhou is an exception - Quanzhou, located in southern Fujian, is a major city for private economy. Ding Changfa said that the county economy in Quanzhou is very developed, forming a complete industrial chain. Jinjiang, Shishi, Nan'an, Anxi and other places under Quanzhou have outstanding main industries.

In fact, both Quanzhou and Wenzhou, which is far away from the core area of the Yangtze River Delta, belong to areas with more mountains and less flat land. They have more counties and cities under their jurisdiction, a large registered residence population, a strong business atmosphere, and a large number of outbound business groups. The data of migrant permanent population will be significantly greater than the net inflow of population. For example, the seventh national population census data shows that there are 724500 people living outside the province in Wenzhou.

Tang Hairu, Vice Chairman of the Expert Committee of the Hangzhou Planning Commission, believes that the Wentai region has more mountains and less flat land, with only a little plain near the sea. Due to the scarcity of flat land, many people go to other provinces to do business, such as building small commodity markets or factories in various places. And not only to various parts of the country, many Wenzhou people also travel to various parts of the world.

Overall, ordinary prefecture level cities with a relatively high net population inflow have strong industrial clusters, and in recent years, industries have accelerated their transformation and upgrading. The number of national high-tech enterprises is one of the important indicators for measuring the industrial transformation and upgrading of a region. Data shows that 11 ordinary prefecture level cities with a net inflow of over 1 million people have a total of over 2000 high-tech enterprises.

Among them, Suzhou, Foshan, and Dongguan remain in the top three. Suzhou is also the only ordinary prefecture level city with over 10000 high-tech enterprises, with over 9000 in Dongguan and 8700 in Foshan; Wuxi has over 5000 businesses; Wenzhou, Jiaxing, and Changzhou all have over 3500 businesses.