 |
| The 25 Fastest Growing
Cities of China: 1985 - 2010 |
| Population Increase since 1985
(in million) |
Multiplication of Population since
1985 |
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Source: Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social
Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat, World Urbanization Prospects,
the 2009 Revision New York, 2010,
http://www.unpopulation.org
Note: This list, according to UN practice, includes cities on Taiwan.
Only cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants in 1950 were used for
the rankings. |
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Between 1985 and 2010 the coastal city of
Shanghai had the biggest increase in population: 9.7 million. This
increase was higher than the growth of Shenzhen (8.8 million) and
Guangzhou
(6.6 million) or Chongqing (6.5 million). Between 1985 and 2010,
Beijing's population increased by 6.4 million. |
| In relative terms, as
expected, smaller cities had some really spectacular increases in
population. The most spectacular increase was calculated for Shenzhen,
which was a small town in 1985 and increased its population more
than 50-fold. Dongguan increased more than 22-fold and Foshan,
Zhuhai and Puning increased their population about 15-fold between
1985 and 2010. |
| These numbers clearly
indicate that China is in the middle of a massive urbanization
process. As in any other developed country, China's population will be
predominantly urban at the end of this transition period. The
"romantic" idea of China as being a "peasant society" is rapidly
fading away. |
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This data section was updated on 18 December 2011 |