Beijing, China Population 2024

Beijing's 2024 population is now estimated at 22,189,100In 1950, the population of Beijing was 1,671,360Beijing has grown by 422,900 in the last year, which represents a 1.94% annual change.These population estimates and projections come from the latest revision of the UN World Urbanization Prospects. These estimates represent the Urban agglomeration of Beijing, which typically includes Beijing's population in addition to adjacent suburban areas.

The current population of Beijing according to the 2010 census, as reported by the official Chinese Government statistics agency, was 19,612,368. The population at the beginning of 2016, according to some estimates, is 21.7 million.

Along with the greater China population, the population of Beijing has also been growing at breakneck speed. In the ten years between the 2000 and 2010 censuses, the number of people living in the city grew by 44% - from 13,569,194 in 2000 to 19,612,368 in 2010. Although this last ten years have seen the most rapid growth in the city's modern history, the city has been consistently growing at a fast pace - the average growth rate since the 1960s has been around 20% per decade.

Even today, the city continues to grow. Although there are no official estimates of the population of Beijing in 2016, unofficial estimates put the population at over 21 million. The country's Five-Year Plan, which began in 2016, is expected to keep the population under 23 million through 2020. Some experts believe that in 2050 there will be more than 50 million people living in Beijing.

Is Beijing the largest city in China?

Although Beijing is the capital city of China, there are larger cities in the country. Shanghai is home to over 24 million people in 2016 and is considered to be China's largest city.

Others, however, argue that Chongqing, a municipality of 28,846,200 in the center of China is technically China's largest city. This is because, although the urban population of Chongqing is only 6-7 million, a municipality is considered to be the equivalent of a city under Chinese law.

If we take Chongqing out of the equation, Beijing is the second largest country in China and the 11th largest city in the world, behind countries including Shanghai, Istanbul, Karachi, Mumbai, and Moscow.

Beijing population by city district

Here's a map of the city, broken down into its administrative districts. Those in yellow were part of the old city, while red denotes the central urban area of the city. Inner suburbs are indicated in blue, and outer suburbs in green.

Here's a table listing the population of each Beijing district.

District Population Density (per sq/km)
Chaoyang District 3,545,000 7,530
Haidian District 3,281,000 7,702
Fengtai District 2,112,000 6,943
Changping District 1,661,000 1,162
Daxing District 1,365,000 1,349
Xicheng District 1,243,000 26,731
Tongzhou District 1,184,000 1,361
Fangshan District 945,000 506
Dongcheng District 919,000 22,635
Shunyi District 877,000 895
Shijingshan District 616,000 6,860
Miyun County 468,000 200
Pinggu District 416,000 387
Huairou District 373,000 146
Yanqing County 317,000 160
Mentougou District 290,000 218

Beijing demographics

The primary ethnic group in Beijing is, as in the rest of the country, Han Chinese. According to the 2010 census, 95.69% of Beijing's residents (excluding anyone from the Red Army) were Han Chinese. Of the remaining 4.31%, the two largest groups are the Manchu (1.84%) and the Hui (1.74%). The rapid economic expansion means that the number of foreigners living in the city is also increasing (notably, approximately 200,000 South Koreans), although there are no accurate statistics available on their populations.

Beijing is the powerhouse of the Chinese economy. Its nominal GDP in 2011 was $247.7 billion, which equates to a per capita GDP of $12,447. Tianjin ($13,058) and Shanghai ($12,783) are the only Chinese cities to have a higher per capita GDP. The city's economy is growing by around 8-10% per year at the moment, so these figures will probably increase still further in the coming years.

Increased wealth and regularly improving healthcare means that life expectancy in Beijing also continues to grow, and is among the highest in the country. Figures indicate that the average life expectancy is 81.12 years – that breaks down as a male life expectancy of 79.16 years and a female life expectancy of 83.17.

Age breakdown data is only available for 2004. At that time, 9.96% of the population was aged 0-14, 78.92% were aged 15-64, and 11.12% were aged 65 or over.

There was a 44% positive growth over the previous decade between the censuses.

Country
China
Growth Rate
1.94%

86 Rows

Year
Population
203525,365,900
203425,191,500
203324,996,900
203224,781,100
203124,543,300
203024,281,900
202923,995,900
202823,684,200
202723,346,700
202622,983,400
202522,596,500
202422,189,100
202321,766,200
202221,333,300
202120,896,800
202020,462,600
201920,035,500
201819,618,000
201719,210,600
201618,812,300
201518,421,200
201418,038,700
201317,664,200
201217,297,900
201116,938,300
201016,441,300
200915,684,800
200814,964,100
200714,274,600
200613,617,900
200512,991,300
200412,394,400
200311,823,300
200211,279,300
200110,760,300
200010,285,100
19999,865,920
19989,464,370
19979,079,160
19968,710,130
19958,355,150
19948,015,090
19937,688,870
19927,376,350
19917,075,720
19906,787,740
19896,626,180
19886,468,680
19876,314,500
19866,164,210
19856,017,490
19845,874,460
19835,734,440
19825,597,960
19815,480,860
19805,366,370
19795,253,970
19785,144,070
19775,036,470
19764,931,260
19754,827,970
19744,726,980
19734,628,110
19724,531,430
19714,436,520
19704,426,040
19694,498,820
19684,572,700
19674,647,990
19664,724,420
19654,582,020
19644,241,770
19634,244,120
19624,246,470
19614,248,830
19603,900,440
19593,284,430
19582,911,900
19572,716,680
19562,534,790
19552,364,620
19542,206,090
19532,058,190
19521,920,390
19511,791,470
19501,671,360

86 Rows

Year
Population
Change
Growth
19501,671,3600%0
19511,791,4707.19%120,110
19521,920,3907.2%128,920
19532,058,1907.18%137,800
19542,206,0907.19%147,900
19552,364,6207.19%158,530
19562,534,7907.2%170,170
19572,716,6807.18%181,890
19582,911,9007.19%195,220
19593,284,43012.79%372,530
19603,900,44018.76%616,010
19614,248,8308.93%348,390
19624,246,470-0.06%-2,360
19634,244,120-0.06%-2,350
19644,241,770-0.06%-2,350
19654,582,0208.02%340,250
19664,724,4203.11%142,400
19674,647,990-1.62%-76,430
19684,572,700-1.62%-75,290
19694,498,820-1.62%-73,880
19704,426,040-1.62%-72,780
19714,436,5200.24%10,480
19724,531,4302.14%94,910
19734,628,1102.13%96,680
19744,726,9802.14%98,870
19754,827,9702.14%100,990
19764,931,2602.14%103,290
19775,036,4702.13%105,210
19785,144,0702.14%107,600
19795,253,9702.14%109,900
19805,366,3702.14%112,400
19815,480,8602.13%114,490
19825,597,9602.14%117,100
19835,734,4402.44%136,480
19845,874,4602.44%140,020
19856,017,4902.43%143,030
19866,164,2102.44%146,720
19876,314,5002.44%150,290
19886,468,6802.44%154,180
19896,626,1802.43%157,500
19906,787,7402.44%161,560
19917,075,7204.24%287,980
19927,376,3504.25%300,630
19937,688,8704.24%312,520
19948,015,0904.24%326,220
19958,355,1504.24%340,060
19968,710,1304.25%354,980
19979,079,1604.24%369,030
19989,464,3704.24%385,210
19999,865,9204.24%401,550
200010,285,1004.25%419,180
200110,760,3004.62%475,200
200211,279,3004.82%519,000
200311,823,3004.82%544,000
200412,394,4004.83%571,100
200512,991,3004.82%596,900
200613,617,9004.82%626,600
200714,274,6004.82%656,700
200814,964,1004.83%689,500
200915,684,8004.82%720,700
201016,441,3004.82%756,500
201116,938,3003.02%497,000
201217,297,9002.12%359,600
201317,664,2002.12%366,300
201418,038,7002.12%374,500
201518,421,2002.12%382,500
201618,812,3002.12%391,100
201719,210,6002.12%398,300
201819,618,0002.12%407,400
201920,035,5002.13%417,500
202020,462,6002.13%427,100
202120,896,8002.12%434,200
202221,333,3002.09%436,500
202321,766,2002.03%432,900
202422,189,1001.94%422,900
202522,596,5001.84%407,400
202622,983,4001.71%386,900
202723,346,7001.58%363,300
202823,684,2001.45%337,500
202923,995,9001.32%311,700
203024,281,9001.19%286,000
203124,543,3001.08%261,400
203224,781,1000.97%237,800
203324,996,9000.87%215,800
203425,191,5000.78%194,600
203525,365,9000.69%174,400

Beijing Population Data (Urban Area)

Name
2024 Pop.
2024 Growth
Shanghai29,867,9002.25%
Beijing22,189,1001.94%
Chongqing17,773,9002.5%
Guangzhou14,590,1002.14%
Tianjin14,470,9001.63%
Shenzhen13,311,9001.83%
Nanjing9,947,5502.57%
Chengdu9,828,1101.81%
Xi An9,013,8402.6%
Wuhan8,850,8501.52%
Hangzhou8,419,8402.22%
Suzhou8,350,6203.43%
Shenyang7,830,3801.95%
Foshan7,704,9401.42%
Dongguan7,675,1501.16%
Haerbin6,938,0101.97%
Dalian6,217,4902.29%
Qingdao6,104,6001.97%
Zhengzhou6,014,8902.66%
Ji Nan Shandong5,940,7002.32%

Other Cities in China

  1. Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics - Beijing data and statistics
  2. Beijing Statistics - Statistics from a variety of Beijing's government data sources

Sources