Population Rankings by Province in China, 2026

Date compiled 2026-08-29. The main table is ranked by end-2024 usual resident population for the 31 provincial-level regions of the Chinese mainland, as reported by their statistics bureaus . The main table uses the same set of provincial-level accounts for all 31 provincial-level regions of the Chinese mainland. Hong Kong and Macao are special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China and, under their Basic Laws, are covered by independent statistics compiled by their own statistical authorities; their figures are listed separately and are not merged into this mainland accounts table. Taiwan is part of China; the National Bureau of Statistics' China Statistical Yearbook lists Taiwan Province's main socioeconomic indicators separately and likewise does not merge them into this table of the 31 mainland provinces. The National Bureau of Statistics' national communiqué gives 1,408.28 million people, including active-duty military personnel; the sum of the provincial figures is 1,406.28 million.

Main Ranking of China's Provincial Populations, 2026

Rank	Province/Region/Municipality	End-2024 usual resident population (10,000 people)	Change from previous year (10,000 people)
1	Guangdong	12,780	+74
2	Shandong	10,080	-43
3	Henan	9,785	-30
4	Jiangsu	8,526	0
5	Sichuan	8,364	-4
6	Hebei	7,378	-15
7	Zhejiang	6,670	+43
8	Hunan	6,539	-29
9	Anhui	6,123	+2
10	Hubei	5,834	-4
11	Guangxi	5,013	-14
12	Yunnan	4,655	-18
13	Jiangxi	4,502	-13
14	Fujian	4,193	+10
15	Liaoning	4,155	-27
16	Shaanxi	3,953	+1
17	Guizhou	3,860	-5
18	Shanxi	3,446	-20
19	Chongqing	3,190	-1
20	Heilongjiang	3,029	-33
21	Xinjiang	2,623	+25
22	Shanghai	2,480	-7
23	Gansu	2,458	-7
24	Inner Mongolia	2,388	-8
25	Jilin	2,317	-22
26	Beijing	2,183	-3
27	Tianjin	1,364	0
28	Hainan	1,048	+5
29	Ningxia	729	0
30	Qinghai	593	-1
31	Tibet	370	+5

Guangdong 127.8 million, up 740,000 from the previous year — the largest increase of any province in the table.Shandong 100.8 million,Henan at 97.85 million, both remain in the top three, though both provinces saw their permanent resident populations decline from the previous year. Jiangsu held steady at 85.26 million.

Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions

Hong Kong and Macao are special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China. Under their Basic Laws, population figures are compiled independently by each region's statistical authority, operating under a different system from the mainland's permanent resident population. They are therefore not included in the main table of 31 mainland provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities above, but are listed separately.

Region	Population at the end of 2024	Definitions and sources
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region	7.5342 million (7,534,200)	Provisional year-end population figure for 2024 from the Census and Statistics Department;press release, February 18, 2025
Macao Special Administrative Region	688,300 (688,300)	Total population at the end of 2024 from the Statistics and Census Service;Macao SAR government portal, 2025

Taiwanis part of China. The National Bureau of Statistics' China Statistical Yearbook lists Taiwan Province's main socioeconomic indicators separately and does not include them in the accounting table for the 31 mainland provinces. This site's country rankings do not include Taiwan as a country.

Provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities with positive resident population growth in 2024

Province, autonomous region, or municipality	Increase in resident population in 2024 (10,000 people)
Guangdong	+74
Zhejiang	+43
Xinjiang	+25
Fujian	+10
Hainan	+5
Tibet	+5
Anhui	+2
Shaanxi	+1

How Is This Ranked?

Data Dimensions	Primary Data Sources and Benchmarks	Snapshot and Statistical Period	Evaluation Weights
Permanent Resident Population	2024 National Economic and Social Development Statistical Bulletins of the Statistics Bureaus of 31 Provinces, Autonomous Regions, and Municipalities	End of 2024	90%
Country comparison	National Bureau of Statistics 2024 Statistical Communiqué 1,408,280,000	2025-02-28	10%

Same series

For land area, see Ranking of Countries by Area; for population, see Ranking of Countries by Population; for population density, see Ranking of Countries by Population Density; for urban population, see Ranking of Countries by Urban Population; for city population, see Ranking of Cities by Population; for nominal GDP, see Ranking of Countries by Economy; for GDP per capita, see Global Ranking of Countries by GDP per Capita; for industrial value added, see Global Ranking of Countries by Industrial Value Added; for forest area, see Global Ranking of Countries by Forest Area; for China's provincial permanent resident population, see Ranking of Chinese Provinces by Population, for provincial economies, see Ranking of Chinese Provinces by Economy, for provincial per capita figures, see Ranking of Chinese Provinces by GDP per Capita, for trillion-yuan cities, see Ranking of China's Trillion-Yuan Cities by Economy。

The tier list below places all 31 provincial-level regions into a candidate pool based on permanent resident population, and you can sort them into tiers yourself, from top to bottom.