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| Data - Population Growth |
| Migration
between provinces based on place of usual residence in 1985 and 1990. |
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These results
are from the interprovincial migration matrix of China, based on retrospective questions
in the 1990 census. |
They indicate
that the six coastal provinces of Guangdong, Beijing, Shanghai, Liaoning,
Tianjin, and Jiangsu had substantial net inmigration from other provinces in the late
1980s.
The clear "winner" is Guangdong: between 1985 and 1990, some 1.26 million
people moved from other Chinese provinces to this province, which is a center of
modernization and industrialization. Only 250,000 people left Guangdong for other
provinces. |
| The obvious
"loser" is the agricultural province of Sichuan, which had a net loss of more
than 846,000 people to other Chinese provinces between 1985 and 1990. Net losses of
population due to migration were also reported for Guangxi, Zhejiang, Hunan, Heilongjiang,
Anhui, and Hebei - all provinces with large agricultural sectors and low economic growth. |
| It is important
to understand the relevance of these statisticrs. They merely indicate the official
inter-provincial migration within a five-year period, which is small compared with the actual
population movements. It is known that China has a large number of temporary migrants who
leave rural areas to work in the booming cities. This "floating population" does
not have official permission for permanent residence in the town or city. It is estimated
that Beijing and Shanghai each have a floating population of 2-3 million people. |
| There is also an
unknown number of illegal rural-urban migrants who have permanently moved to
large cities and towns. They have found housing and work in a growing informal
sector. |
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| Related Tables & Charts |
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Revision 2.0 (First revision published in 1999)
- Copyright © 2011 by Gerhard K. Heilig. All rights reserved. (First revision: Copyright © 1999 by IIASA.) |
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