Children are playing by the Wanquan River in Qionghai city, South China's Hainan Province on February 16, 2023. Photo: VCG

The permanent population in South China's Hainan Province had increased by 65,600 by the end of 2022, compared with the end of the previous year, making it one of the eight provinces in the country with positive permanent population growth.

By the end of 2022, the province's permanent resident population was 10.27 million, an increase of 65,600 or 0.64 percent, compared to the number at the end of 2021, according to the Hainan provincial statistical bureau.

According to data provided by the bureau, 12 out of 19 cities and counties in the province recorded positive growth in 2022.

The birth rate in the province decreased further in 2022, with 88,100 new births and a birth rate of 8.6 per thousand. This is 1.83 per thousand higher than the national rate of 6.77 per thousand.

Compared to 2021, the number of new births was 10,900 fewer, and the birth rate decreased by 1.14 per thousand year-on-year, a drop that was 0.52 per thousand points higher than the previous year.

At least two reasons result in population declines in a region, said experts. The first one is that the natural population growth rate is negative, that is, the birth rate is lower than the death rate. The second is that as the outflow of population is greater than the inflow, the migration of a population is negative, experts noted.

Several provinces and regions, including Jiangxi in East China, Guangxi in South China, Guizhou in Southwest China, Gansu and Qinghai in Northwest China, Chongqing in Southwest China, and Anhui in Central China, have released their population data for 2022, all of which have shown positive growth in terms of permanent population.

Notably, the permanent populations of Anhui, Jiangxi, and Guangxi increased by 140,000, 105,800, and 100,000 respectively.

However, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics of China showed that the overall population of the Chinese mainland experienced negative growth in 2022 for the first time in 61 years, decreasing by 850,000.

Observers believe that negative population growth is the inevitable result of the country's long-term low fertility rate, but they also note that the country's demographic dividend will not disappear, contrary to some pessimistic claims.

Global Times