The 10 ordinary prefecture-level cities with the largest population growth: Suzhou ranks first, and the central and western regions run out of the dark horse

Author: Lin Xiaozhao

In addition to municipalities directly under the central government, provincial capitals and cities with separate plans, which ordinary prefecture-level cities will have more population growth in 2022?

According to the statistics of the first financial reporter, the top ten ordinary prefecture-level cities with population growth in 2022 are Suzhou, Chuzhou, Wuhu, Qujing, Yuxi, Jiaxing, Wenzhou, Ordos, Ma'anshan, and Quanzhou. Among them, Suzhou, Chuzhou, Wuhu and Qujing increased by more than 5,6; From the perspective of regional distribution, the central and western regions occupied <> seats, and Chuzhou, Wuhu, Qujing and other central and western cities became dark horses for population growth last year.

Suzhou ranked in the top two for two consecutive years

Suzhou's population increase leads the way among ordinary prefecture-level cities. Data show that at the end of 2022, Suzhou's permanent population was 1291.1 million, an increase of 0.5% over the end of the previous year, an increase of 6,32. In 2021, Suzhou's population increase ranked second among ordinary prefecture-level cities. For two consecutive years, the population increase ranked among the top two prefecture-level cities, which shows the strong population attraction of Suzhou.

In 2022, Suzhou will achieve a GDP of 23958.34 billion yuan, more than 9000 billion yuan more than Wuxi, which ranks second in GDP of ordinary prefecture-level cities, far ahead of prefecture-level cities, ranking sixth among all cities in the country, second only to Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Chongqing and Guangzhou, so Suzhou is also known as the "most bullish prefecture-level city".

In 2022, Suzhou will add 29 domestic and foreign listed companies, including 25 domestic listed companies; At the end of the year, there were 241 domestic and foreign listed companies, including 48 on the Science and Technology Innovation Board, ranking third in the country. At the same time, Suzhou's transformation and upgrading has achieved remarkable results. Data show that last year, 5531,13473 new high-tech enterprises were recognized, and the number of effective high-tech enterprises reached <>,<>, jumping to the fourth place in the country for the first time.

Ding Changfa, associate professor of the Department of Economics of Xiamen University, analyzed that Suzhou's economic transformation and upgrading in recent years has been at the forefront of prefecture-level cities, attracting many colleges and universities to settle down and accelerate scientific and technological innovation to make up for shortcomings. At the same time, Suzhou's manufacturing industry is very developed, including biopharmaceutical, integrated circuit, artificial intelligence and other industries are very prominent, in the process of manufacturing upgrading, the scale of R&D investment is very large.

The transformation and upgrading of industries, the development of emerging industries, and the rapid increase in the number of listed companies have attracted more talents to settle down. Expert analysis pointed out that these talents have a high income level, often settle down in Suzhou, and at the same time their families and children are around, driving rapid population growth.

Anhui multi-city is eye-catching

After Suzhou, the population of Chuzhou, Wuhu and Qujing in the central and western regions also increased by more than 5,2 people last year, ranking 4 to <> respectively.

Anhui's Chuzhou population increased by 6,2022 last year, and Chuzhou's economic development in recent years is also remarkable. In 3610, Chuzhou City will achieve a GDP of 2010 billion yuan, ranking firmly as the "third city in Anhui" in terms of economic aggregate, and the growth rate will be the first in the province. In 695, Chuzhou's GDP was only 65.6 billion yuan, ranking sixth in Anhui Province. In other words, since 2010, Chuzhou's GDP has increased by 4.18 times, and its ranking in the province has risen by 3 places.

Chuzhou, which is close to Nanjing, has complemented the advantages of division of labor and cooperation with Nanjing in the construction and development of Nanjing metropolitan area in recent years. From the perspective of industry, at present, Chuzhou has formed industrial clusters such as smart home appliances, electronic information, automobiles and parts, and gathered brand enterprises such as BSH, Konka, Skyworth and so on.

Lin Fei, a researcher at the Institute of Economics of the Anhui Academy of Social Sciences, analyzed to the first financial reporter that Chuzhou is adjacent to Nanjing and is closely integrated into the Nanjing metropolitan area. Not only the home appliance industry cluster has done well, but the development of the photovoltaic industry in Chuzhou in recent years has also been very prominent, and the supporting industries related to new energy have also done well.

Outside Chuzhou, Wuhu, a member city in the Nanjing metropolitan area, grew its population by 5,9 last year, ranking third among prefecture-level cities. Wuhu is one of the "Four Rice Cities" in modern times, with a relatively strong industrial foundation, as well as famous manufacturing enterprises such as Chery Automobile, and one of the three major electrical appliance bases in Anhui. From the main indicators of Anhui cities, Wuhu is the second largest city in Anhui Province after the provincial capital Hefei.

In March this year, Anhui Province issued Several Opinions on Supporting Wuhu City to Accelerate the Construction of a Provincial Sub-central City, supporting Wuhu to become the second pole of Anhui's economic growth and a provincial sub-central city. Clearly support Wuhu to build an important national advanced manufacturing base, a new highland for innovation and entrepreneurship-led development in China, an open hub connecting the Yangtze River Delta and the central region, a pilot zone for green and low-carbon development in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and a modern large city with important influence in the Yangtze River Delta.

In addition, another city in Anhui made the top 2 list, Ma'anshan, which grew its population by 9,<> last year. It is worth noting that all three Anhui cities on the list are located in the Anhui River urban agglomeration, and they are all members of the Nanjing metropolitan area, which is the closest area of Anhui to the developed areas of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai.

From the perspective of population changes in Anhui Province, data released by the Anhui Provincial Bureau of Statistics show that at the end of 2022, the permanent population of the province will be 6127.14 million, an increase of 2020,6103 over the previous year, ranking second in the country. Compared with the 24.12 million people in the seventh national census of Anhui Province in 0, a total increase of 2,<>, an average annual increase of <>,<>, and an average annual growth rate of <>.<>%.

The rapid growth of Anhui's population is mainly related to the return of population. From the perspective of the outflow of Anhui, it is mainly concentrated in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai (two provinces and one city). In recent years, in the process of building a world-class city cluster with global influence in the Yangtze River Delta city cluster, Anhui has deeply participated in the development division of labor and cooperation in the Yangtze River Delta, and many production capacities of the two provinces and one city have been transferred to Anhui, which has played a very obvious role in driving Anhui's economy, and then driven the return of many people who originally went out in two provinces and one city.

However, from the perspective of changes in the province, 16 of the 11 cities in Anhui last year saw population decline, and only 5 cities increased their population, namely Hefei, the provincial capital, and Chuzhou, Wuhu, Ma'anshan, and Xuancheng, which are located in the Nanjing metropolitan area.

Lin Fei said that these cities are located in the Anhui River Economic Belt, close to the developed areas of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai, and are places where Anhui's industrial development is relatively concentrated, with relatively many industries and many employment opportunities. At the same time, the development momentum of emerging industries in the region is good, and it is more attractive to young people.

Six cities in the Midwest were shortlisted

In addition to Anhui, Yunnan also has two cities on the list, of which Qujing's population increase reached 2,5 last year.

Qujing is also one of the cities with rapid economic growth in recent years. In 2022, Qujing completed a GDP of 3802.2 billion yuan, ranking 79th among cities in the country in terms of total economic output, up 2021 places from 10. In the past 10 years, Qujing has taken the new energy battery industry, silicon photovoltaic industry and aluminum deep processing as new industrial growth poles, and gradually transformed from traditional industries based on resources to modern industries with sound industrial chains. In recent years, leading enterprises such as Sunshine Energy, LONGi, JA Technology and other leading enterprises in the global photovoltaic industry and German Nano and other leading enterprises in the national production of new energy battery cathode materials have successively settled in Qujing.

In August last year, Yunnan Province issued Several Opinions on Supporting Qujing City to Build a Sub-central City in Yunnan, proposing that by 8, Yunnan's sub-central city will be basically completed, and the total economic volume will account for more than 2025% of the province.

From the perspective of regional distribution, compared with 2021, the top 2022 lists of ordinary prefecture-level cities in population increment in 10 have changed greatly. The top ten ordinary prefecture-level cities in population increase in 2021 are Jiaxing, Suzhou, Foshan, Changzhou, Quanzhou, Wenzhou, Jinhua, Dongguan, Langfang and Zhanjiang, all from the eastern coastal areas. By 2022, only four of the top 10 prefecture-level cities in terms of population increase will come from the eastern coastal regions, namely Suzhou, Jiaxing, Wenzhou and Quanzhou; There are 4 cities from the central and western regions, namely Chuzhou, Wuhu, Qujing, Yuxi, Ordos and Ma'anshan.

On the whole, the population growth of many ordinary prefecture-level cities in the central and western regions in 2022 is fast, and there are factors affecting the epidemic. Last year, some people returned to the central and western regions due to the impact of the epidemic in developed coastal areas, and with the optimization of epidemic prevention and control measures, some returnees may still return to coastal areas this year. Therefore, the population growth pattern of cities in 2023 is bound to change.

On the other hand, some cities with a large population growth in the central and western regions belong to cities with more prominent industrial development, not only traditional industrial manufacturing, but also the development of new energy industry in recent years.

For example, thanks to rising energy prices, the total GDP ranking of the coal market Ordos has risen rapidly. In recent years, the city has also accelerated the transformation of the energy industry, developing the new energy industry and accelerating the development of the non-energy industry. Among them, the world's first zero-carbon industrial park, Envision Ordos Zero-carbon Industrial Park, began construction in early 2021, and the first phase of the project was completed and put into operation in April 2022. Based on the three innovative pillars of "new power system", "zero-carbon digital operating system" and "green new industrial cluster", the industrial park will help the local area achieve 4 billion yuan of green new industrial output value, create 2025,3000 green high-tech jobs, and achieve the goal of reducing carbon dioxide emissions annually by 10 million tons by 1.

Among the top ten cities in the population increase of prefecture-level cities this year, the four prefecture-level cities in the east are all "old faces" last year, which to some extent shows how attractive these cities are to the foreign population. Among them, Jiaxing, which ranked first in population increase in 4 as a prefecture-level city, ranked seventh with a population increase of 2021,2022 in 3, continuing to maintain a rapid growth momentum.

Tang Haizi, vice chairman of the Expert Committee of Hangzhou Planning Commission, analyzed that the main reason for Jiaxing's rapid population growth is that in the process of high-quality integrated development in the Yangtze River Delta, Shanghai's functions spill over to surrounding areas, driving the development of Jiaxing. At the same time, from the perspective of Jiaxing itself, its land and cost are relatively low, which is also conducive to receiving Shanghai's functional spillover. Coupled with the construction of transportation infrastructure, Jiaxing is more convenient to go to Shanghai and Hangzhou, and it is easier to undertake the functional spillover of Shanghai and Hangzhou, promoting the development of Jiaxing.