Top 20 Most Populous Chinese Cities
A ranking of China's twenty most populous cities by total municipal resident population from the 2020 national census, covering municipalities, provincial capitals and ordinary prefecture-level cities. It uses a consistent whole-municipality definition rather than urban-core figures, the distinction most often confused in Chinese city population statistics.
Interesting Facts & Summary
Chongqing tops the list at 32.05 million, a full 7.18 million ahead of Shanghai. But its lead is a matter of definition: Chongqing spans 82,400 sq km, larger than Ningxia, and administers 38 districts and counties, effectively counting a mid-sized province as one city, at just 389 people per sq km. Shenzhen, by contrast, packs 17.56 million into 1,997 sq km, roughly 23 times denser. The top six hold about 136 million people between them, more than the entire population of Japan. Six entries are neither provincial capitals nor municipalities, the most surprising being Linyi, which outnumbers both Shandong's capital Jinan and its largest economy Qingdao. Twentieth-placed Wenzhou, at 9.57 million, edges out Foshan by only 74,000.
| Rank | City | Province-level division | Municipal population (10,000) | Population note | Data period |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Chongqing | Chongqing Municipality | 3205.42 | China's most populous city and its largest municipality by area, covering 82,400 sq km across 38 districts and counties, effectively a mid-sized province governed as one city, at about 389 people per sq km | 1 Nov 2020 (2020 national census reference date) | |
Shanghai | Shanghai Municipality | 2487.09 | China's largest municipal economy, fitting its population into about 6,341 sq km at roughly 3,900 people per sq km | 1 Nov 2020 (2020 national census reference date) | |
Beijing | Beijing Municipality | 2189.31 | The capital added about 2.28 million residents between the 2010 and 2020 censuses, the slowest growth among China's first-tier cities | 1 Nov 2020 (2020 national census reference date) | |
| 4 | Chengdu | Sichuan | 2093.78 | The only city in central or western China above 20 million residents, and the only non-municipality among China's four 20-million-plus cities | 1 Nov 2020 (2020 national census reference date) |
| 5 | Guangzhou | Guangdong | 1867.66 | Guangdong's most populous city, which added roughly 5.98 million residents between the 2010 and 2020 censuses, one of the largest gains nationwide | 1 Nov 2020 (2020 national census reference date) |
| 6 | Shenzhen | Guangdong | 1756.01 | Confined to about 1,997 sq km, giving roughly 8,800 people per sq km, the densest city on this list and around 23 times Chongqing's density | 1 Nov 2020 (2020 national census reference date) |
| 7 | Tianjin | Tianjin Municipality | 1386.6 | The least populous of China's four municipalities, covering about 11,900 sq km | 1 Nov 2020 (2020 national census reference date) |
| 8 | Xi'an | Shaanxi | 1295.29 | The only city in northwest China above ten million residents, boosted sharply by household-registration reforms introduced from 2017 | 1 Nov 2020 (2020 national census reference date) |
| 9 | Suzhou | Jiangsu | 1274.83 | The most populous ordinary prefecture-level city in China, neither a provincial capital nor a separately planned city, with a large migrant workforce | 1 Nov 2020 (2020 national census reference date) |
| 10 | Zhengzhou | Henan | 1260.06 | Gained about 3.97 million residents between the 2010 and 2020 censuses, one of the fastest-growing provincial capitals, as Henan's population concentrated in its capital | 1 Nov 2020 (2020 national census reference date) |
| 11 | Wuhan | Hubei | 1232.65 | The most populous city in central China and long among the country's largest university student populations | 1 Nov 2020 (2020 national census reference date) |
| 12 | Hangzhou | Zhejiang | 1193.6 | Added roughly 3.24 million residents over the decade between censuses, driven largely by digital-economy employment | 1 Nov 2020 (2020 national census reference date) |
| 13 | Shijiazhuang | Hebei | 1123.51 | Hebei's capital, whose municipal total is inflated by several counties of a million or more residents well beyond the urban core | 1 Nov 2020 (2020 national census reference date) |
| 14 | Linyi | Shandong | 1101.85 | Shandong's most populous city, ahead of both the capital Jinan and the larger economy of Qingdao, and the province's largest prefecture by area | 1 Nov 2020 (2020 national census reference date) |
| 15 | Dongguan | Guangdong | 1046.66 | One of the few prefecture-level cities with no district or county tier, administering towns directly, and with an unusually high share of migrant factory workers | 1 Nov 2020 (2020 national census reference date) |
| 16 | Qingdao | Shandong | 1007.17 | Shandong's largest economy, which had only just crossed the ten-million mark at the time of the census | 1 Nov 2020 (2020 national census reference date) |
| 17 | Changsha | Hunan | 1004.79 | Added about three million residents between the two censuses, the strongest gain among central China's provincial capitals | 1 Nov 2020 (2020 national census reference date) |
| 18 | Harbin | Heilongjiang | 1000.99 | The only northeastern city above ten million residents, yet it lost about 630,000 people between censuses, a rare decline on this list | 1 Nov 2020 (2020 national census reference date) |
| 19 | Nanyang | Henan | 971.32 | Henan's largest prefecture by area and by registered population, with resident numbers well below registered ones as it remains a major source of migrant labour | 1 Nov 2020 (2020 national census reference date) |
| 20 | Wenzhou | Zhejiang | 957.29 | Zhejiang's second most populous city after Hangzhou, known for its private-sector economy and extensive overseas business networks | 1 Nov 2020 (2020 national census reference date) |
Sources
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