The latest official data indicates that China’s urban population surpassed 57% of the total as of the end of last year.
Figures released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics on 11 July indicate that the country’s permanent urbanised population rate had rise 4.8 percentage points compared to the end of 2012 to reach 57.4% by the end of 2016.
According to NBS data the gap in the rate between registered urban residents and permanent urban residents has also shrunk by 1.4 percentage points.
As of the end of 2015, the population of registered urban residents at the prefecture level or higher was 446.39 million, for an increase of 43.21 million compared to the end of 2012, and an average per annum growth rate of 3.5%,.
NBS data further indicates that China’s cities are increasing in number and size, with the country host to a total of 657 urban centres by the end of 2016, including four directly administered municipalities, 15 sub-provinical municipalities, 278 prefecture-level municipalities and 360 county-level municipalities.
In terms of the country’ major sub-regions, eastern China is host to 89 cities at the prefecture level or higher and 124 at the county level of higher; for central China the figures are 80 and 89 respectively, for western China they are 94 and 92 respectively, while in China’s north-east the tally is 34 and 55.
