In 2021, the net population increase of China was only 480,000, hitting a new low in more than 40 years. This means that a new round of nationwide population competition has begun, and not all cities keep growing in terms of resident population. "Head players" are reshuffling in the population battle. 

From 2010 to 2020, the national population flow had a very clear direction - going to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. In the past ten years, the permanent resident population in Shenzhen was increased by 7.14 million, and the number in Guangzhou was increased by 5.98 million. The two cities ranked at the top of the list of cities with net population inflows for years. Even in Beijing and Shanghai, which implement stricter household registration policies, the increase of population in the past ten years have reached 2.28 million and 1.85 million respectively. The total population of the four first-tier cities was increased by more than 17 million, with an average annual increase of more than 1.7 million. However, this trend turned sharply in 2021. The total population increase of the four cities was only more than 120,000, which was less than one-tenth of the 10-year average annual increase.

In contrast, the population growth of the new first-tier cities was particularly gratifying. By of the end of 2021, the total resident population of Qingdao reached 10.2567 million, which was increased by 151,000 compared with the end of 2020, ranking fourth in the country. If the time line is extended to ten years, the data is even more eye-catching: There were 8.7151 million people in 2010, and the number exceeded 10 million in 2020. Qingdao has reached an average annual increase of 139,000 people!

 Source: WeChat public account "Huilan Tingtao"