Some demographic figures
In recent years, births in the capital have exceeded deaths. The results of the current Year of the "Golden" (or "Earth") Pig are particularly striking. Fifty years ago, during the PRC’s early years, the city barely had five million residents.
Current population figures, however, are somewhat contradictory: last year, an estimate of growth over the preceding five years put the rise at 13.7 to 15.4 million, whereas Public Security Bureau statistics published this August already show over 17 million.
More than 12 million residents have permanent registration, or «hukou». About five million—a third of the total—are migrants who came to Beijing for work. Their numbers have grown substantially since hukou requirements were relaxed. Clearly, estimating Beijing’s 2020 population at only 20 million somewhat underestimates the situation.
According to National Bureau of Statistics figures recently published in «Jinghua Shibao», by the end of last year China’s rural population had fallen to 737 million people, representing 56% of the country’s officially registered population (1.3 billion). In 2001, rural residents made up over 64% of the population, and in 1990, 74%.
However, definitive figures on the number of foreigners living in Beijing have not yet been published this year. The number of «laowai» in the capital is difficult to estimate, but we would venture that it already exceeds 300,000 people.