Guangzhou, China Population 2024

Guangzhou's 2024 population is now estimated at 14,590,100In 1950, the population of Guangzhou was 1,048,980Guangzhou has grown by 305,700 in the last year, which represents a 2.14% 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 Guangzhou, which typically includes Guangzhou's population in addition to adjacent suburban areas.

Guangzhou, known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the largest city and capital of China's Guangdong province. Located on the Pearl River approximately 120 kilometers northwest of Hong Kong, the city is one of five National Central Cities and a major international hub. The estimated population for the city in 2016 is over 13 million.

It's also the third largest city in China and the largest in the southern part of the country. The current 2016 population of Guangzhou is estimated to be over 13,000,000.

This shows an increase from the 12.78 million recorded at the 2010 census. The urban population of Guangzhou is 11,070,654, with the remainder living in the rural areas of the city. Some estimates, however, place the urban population as high as 25 million.

While Guangzhou's population is over 13 million, The Pearl River Delta Economic Zone, which includes Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Foshan, Dongguan, Zhuhai, Jiangmen, Zhongshan and parts of Zhaoqing and Huizhou, has an estimated population of over 50 million.

City Size and Population Density

The density of Guangzhou is now around 2,000 people per square kilometer, or 5,100 people per square mile. While this certainly doesn't compare to the most densely populated cities in the world, some of which reach over 42,000/sq km, it does leave room for additional growth in the years to come. This density is calculated by dividing the population total by the area, of which Guangzhou claims 7,434.4 square kilometers of total surface area (2,870 square miles).

Guangzhou Demographics

The region around Guangzhou is known for its massive influx of migrants, with up to 30 million additional migrants living in the area for at least six months out of every year. This vast influx of people from other areas, called the floating population, is due to the city's fast-growing economy and high labor demands.

Interestingly, many of the railroad laborers who worked in Panama, the United States and Canada during the 19th century came from Guangzhou and its surrounding areas. Many from this region also left to California during the 1849 gold rush, and to Australia a decade later. While emigration has slowed recently due to Guangzhou's economic prosperity, it's still a major source of immigrants to the rest of the world, especially North America.

Most of Guangzhou's population is Han Chinese, like most of China. The largest subgroup of Han Chinese in the region are the Cantonese people. Like the rest of China, Guangzhou has a very unbalanced gender ratio, but its province has a higher imbalance than the rest of the country. While most areas of China have 112-120 boys per 100 girls, the Guangdong province that houses Guangzhou has more than 130 boys for every 100 girls.

Mandarin and Cantonese are the popular languages in the area.

Guangzhou Population Growth

Guangzhou announced plans in 2012 to limit its population growth by 2020 as it faces a considerable demand on overloaded services in the city. Efforts continue to limit the population of Guangzhou and other highly populated areas.

Guangzhou Mayor Wan Qingliang told an urban planning seminar that Guangzhou is facing a severe population problem stating that, while the city had 10.33 million registered residents at the time with targets and scales of land use based on this number, the city had a population with migrants of nearly 15 million.

Guangzhou faces land shortage as well as scarcity of public resources, and it is estimated that the city's population will push past 18 million by 2020 without some population control in effect to reduce the number of low-skilled workers and bring in more qualified people.

Guangzhou's natural birth rate has remained around 6.2% per year for many years, and the growth in the area has been primarily due to migrants from nearby provinces and cities. The number of migrants in Guangzhou increases by around 300,000 each year.

According to the Guangzhou Academy of Social Sciences researcher Peng Peng, [the city is almost at its maximum capacity of just 15 million,](Guangzhou Academy of Social Sciences research Peng Peng) which means the city is facing a great strain, mostly due to a high population of unregistered people.

This means that Guangzhou is growing too fast for its infrastructure and public services, so its population should begin to stabilize somewhat if the government enacts the population controls its attempting. It will remain one of the largest cities in China, and one of 8 cities in the country with a population of 10 million.

Country
China
Growth Rate
2.14%

86 Rows

Year
Population
203516,741,000
203416,625,800
203316,497,400
203216,354,800
203116,197,500
203016,024,200
202915,833,700
202815,624,900
202715,396,600
202615,147,900
202514,878,700
202414,590,100
202314,284,400
202213,964,600
202113,635,400
202013,301,500
201912,967,900
201812,638,300
201712,315,700
201612,001,700
201511,694,900
201411,396,300
201311,105,400
201210,822,300
201110,545,600
201010,278,200
200910,021,000
20089,770,610
20079,525,800
20069,287,450
20059,055,060
20048,828,790
20038,607,580
20028,392,200
20018,182,210
20007,812,010
19997,154,410
19986,552,960
19976,002,070
19965,498,160
19955,035,340
19944,612,030
19934,224,310
19923,869,660
19913,543,920
19903,245,990
19893,044,370
19882,855,520
19872,677,910
19862,511,570
19852,355,570
19842,209,440
19832,072,020
19821,943,320
19811,906,230
19801,869,900
19791,834,170
19781,799,170
19771,764,830
19761,731,200
19751,698,120
19741,665,710
19731,633,920
19721,602,780
19711,572,150
19701,542,150
19691,512,720
19681,483,890
19671,455,540
19661,427,760
19651,400,510
19641,373,820
19631,347,570
19621,321,850
19611,296,620
19601,271,910
19591,247,610
19581,223,800
19571,200,440
19561,177,570
19551,155,060
19541,133,020
19531,111,400
19521,090,220
19511,069,380
19501,048,980

86 Rows

Year
Population
Change
Growth
19501,048,9800%0
19511,069,3801.94%20,400
19521,090,2201.95%20,840
19531,111,4001.94%21,180
19541,133,0201.95%21,620
19551,155,0601.95%22,040
19561,177,5701.95%22,510
19571,200,4401.94%22,870
19581,223,8001.95%23,360
19591,247,6101.95%23,810
19601,271,9101.95%24,300
19611,296,6201.94%24,710
19621,321,8501.95%25,230
19631,347,5701.95%25,720
19641,373,8201.95%26,250
19651,400,5101.94%26,690
19661,427,7601.95%27,250
19671,455,5401.95%27,780
19681,483,8901.95%28,350
19691,512,7201.94%28,830
19701,542,1501.95%29,430
19711,572,1501.95%30,000
19721,602,7801.95%30,630
19731,633,9201.94%31,140
19741,665,7101.95%31,790
19751,698,1201.95%32,410
19761,731,2001.95%33,080
19771,764,8301.94%33,630
19781,799,1701.95%34,340
19791,834,1701.95%35,000
19801,869,9001.95%35,730
19811,906,2301.94%36,330
19821,943,3201.95%37,090
19832,072,0206.62%128,700
19842,209,4406.63%137,420
19852,355,5706.61%146,130
19862,511,5706.62%156,000
19872,677,9106.62%166,340
19882,855,5206.63%177,610
19893,044,3706.61%188,850
19903,245,9906.62%201,620
19913,543,9209.18%297,930
19923,869,6609.19%325,740
19934,224,3109.16%354,650
19944,612,0309.18%387,720
19955,035,3409.18%423,310
19965,498,1609.19%462,820
19976,002,0709.17%503,910
19986,552,9609.18%550,890
19997,154,4109.18%601,450
20007,812,0109.19%657,600
20018,182,2104.74%370,200
20028,392,2002.57%209,990
20038,607,5802.57%215,380
20048,828,7902.57%221,210
20059,055,0602.56%226,270
20069,287,4502.57%232,390
20079,525,8002.57%238,350
20089,770,6102.57%244,810
200910,021,0002.56%250,390
201010,278,2002.57%257,200
201110,545,6002.6%267,400
201210,822,3002.62%276,700
201311,105,4002.62%283,100
201411,396,3002.62%290,900
201511,694,9002.62%298,600
201612,001,7002.62%306,800
201712,315,7002.62%314,000
201812,638,3002.62%322,600
201912,967,9002.61%329,600
202013,301,5002.57%333,600
202113,635,4002.51%333,900
202213,964,6002.41%329,200
202314,284,4002.29%319,800
202414,590,1002.14%305,700
202514,878,7001.98%288,600
202615,147,9001.81%269,200
202715,396,6001.64%248,700
202815,624,9001.48%228,300
202915,833,7001.34%208,800
203016,024,2001.2%190,500
203116,197,5001.08%173,300
203216,354,8000.97%157,300
203316,497,4000.87%142,600
203416,625,8000.78%128,400
203516,741,0000.69%115,200

Guangzhou 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. Guangzhou International - Guangzhou government and information
  2. Guangzhou Information - Guangzhou data and statistics

Sources