2020 Chinese census

The Seventh National Population Census of the People's Republic of China, also called the 2020 Chinese Census, was the seventh national census done by the National Bureau of Statistics of the People's Republic of China. The work for this census started on November 1, 2020, and lasted until December 10, 2020. More than seven million people helped with collecting the information.

A slogan urging people to participate in the census, "Dàguó Diǎnmíng, Méi Nǐ Bùxíng" (大国点名没你不行, literally "a great nation calls the roll, it doesn't work without you") in Suzhou, Jiangsu, China

This census looked at all Chinese citizens living in mainland China and those who were living outside the country on temporary visas. It also included foreigners who had been living in mainland China for more than six months.

The first results from the census were shared on May 11, 2021, during a news conference. The release had been planned for early April but was delayed by one month.

Census result

The population of mainland China was counted as 1,411,778,724 people as of November 1, 2020. At the same time, Hong Kong had 7,474,200 people, and Macau had 683,218 people.

Immigrants

The census showed that China had 1,430,695 immigrants. These included 845,697 people from other countries and 584,998 people from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.

Population comparison table by provincial-level administrative unit
Region	Resident population		Sex		Age				Highest education
Region	Population	Proportion (%)	Male (%)	Female (%)	0 to 14 (%)	15 to 59 (%)	60 and above (%)	65 and above (%)	College (%)	High school (%)	Middle school (%)	Elementary school (%)
Mainland China	1,411,778,724	100	51.24	48.76	17.95	63.35	18.70	13.50	15.47	15.09	34.51	24.77
Beijing	21,893,095	1.55	51.14	48.86	11.84	68.53	19.63	13.30	41.98	17.59	23.29	10.50
Tianjin	13,866,009	0.98	51.53	48.47	13.47	64.87	21.66	14.75	26.94	17.72	32.29	16.12
Hebei	74,610,235	5.28	50.50	49.50	20.22	59.92	19.85	13.92	12.42	13.86	39.95	24.66
Shanxi	34,915,616	2.47	50.99	49.01	16.35	64.72	18.92	12.90	17.36	16.49	38.95	19.51
Inner Mongolia	24,049,155	1.70	51.04	48.96	14.04	66.17	19.78	13.05	18.69	14.81	33.86	23.63
Liaoning	42,591,407	3.02	49.92	50.08	11.12	63.16	25.72	17.42	18.22	14.67	42.80	18.89
Jilin	24,073,453	1.71	49.92	50.08	11.71	65.23	23.06	17.42	16.74	17.08	38.23	22.32
Heilongjiang	31,850,088	2.26	50.09	49.91	10.32	66.46	23.22	15.61	14.79	15.53	42.79	21.86
Shanghai	24,870,895	1.76	51.77	48.23	9.80	66.82	23.38	16.28	33.87	19.02	28.94	11.93
Jiangsu	84,748,016	6.00	50.78	49.22	15.21	62.95	21.84	16.20	18.66	16.19	33.31	22.74
Zhejiang	64,567,588	4.57	52.16	47.84	13.45	67.86	18.70	13.27	16.99	14.56	32.71	26.38
Anhui	61,027,171	4.32	50.97	49.03	19.24	61.96	18.79	15.01	13.28	13.29	33.72	26.88
Fujian	41,540,086	2.94	51.68	48.32	19.32	64.70	15.98	11.10	14.15	14.21	32.22	28.03
Jiangxi	45,188,635	3.20	51.60	48.40	21.96	61.17	16.87	11.89	11.90	15.15	35.50	27.51
Shandong	101,527,453	7.19	50.66	49.34	18.78	60.32	20.90	15.13	14.38	14.33	35.78	23.69
Henan	99,365,519	7.04	50.15	49.85	23.14	58.79	18.08	13.49	11.74	15.24	37.52	24.56
Hubei	57,752,557	4.09	51.42	48.58	16.31	63.26	20.42	14.59	15.50	17.43	34.28	23.52
Hunan	66,444,864	4.71	51.16	48.84	19.52	60.60	19.88	14.81	12.24	17.78	35.64	25.21
Guangdong	126,012,510	8.93	53.07	46.93	18.85	68.80	12.35	8.58	15.70	18.22	35.48	20.68
Guangxi	50,126,804	3.55	51.70	48.30	23.63	59.69	16.69	12.20	10.81	12.96	36.39	27.86
Hainan	10,081,232	0.71	53.02	46.98	19.97	65.38	14.65	10.43	13.92	15.56	40.17	19.70
Chongqing	32,054,159	2.27	50.55	49.45	15.91	62.22	21.87	17.08	15.41	15.96	30.58	29.89
Sichuan	83,674,866	5.93	50.54	49.46	16.10	62.19	21.71	16.93	13.27	13.30	31.44	31.32
Guizhou	38,562,148	2.73	51.10	48.90	23.97	60.65	15.38	11.56	10.95	9.95	30.46	31.92
Yunnan	47,209,277	3.34	51.73	48.27	19.57	65.52	14.91	10.75	11.60	10.34	29.24	35.67
Tibet	3,648,100	0.26	52.45	47.55	24.53	66.95	8.52	5.67	11.02	7.05	15.76	32.11
Shaanxi	39,528,999	2.80	51.17	48.83	17.33	63.46	19.20	13.32	18.40	15.58	33.98	21.69
Gansu	25,019,831	1.77	50.76	49.24	19.40	63.57	17.03	12.58	14.51	12.94	27.42	29.81
Qinghai	5,923,957	0.42	51.21	48.79	20.81	67.04	12.14	8.68	14.88	10.57	24.34	32.73
Ningxia	7,202,654	0.51	50.94	49.06	20.38	66.09	13.52	9.62	17.34	13.43	29.72	26.11
Xinjiang	25,852,345	1.83	51.66	48.34	22.46	66.26	11.28	7.76	16.54	13.21	31.56	28.41

Background

In 2015, China changed its one-child policy to try to have more babies. They wanted the population to grow to about 1.42 billion by 2020, up from 1.34 billion before.

After the change, 17.9 million babies were born in 2016, but this was fewer than expected. The number of births kept going down in the following years.

During the census in November 2020, Xi Jinping, the leader of China, talked with the workers doing the census in Beijing.

The 2020 census showed that the number of boys compared to girls got closer than before, with about 105 boys for every 100 girls. This was the most balanced it had been since censuses began in 1953.

Census result

Immigrants

Background

Images

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