A view of Huzhou, East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo/hz6.com]

Huzhou's permanent population grew to approximately 3.44 million by the end of 2023, marking an increase of 26,000 from the previous year, as reported by the local statistical authority.

The figure was derived from a comprehensive sample survey on population changes conducted by the Huzhou Municipal Bureau of Statistics.

Among the 3.44 million residents, 2.32 million were categorized as urban residents, indicating that the urban-rural ratio in the city had reached 67.5 percent, 1.1 percentage points higher than the previous year.

Regarding demographic trends, the number of births in Huzhou was 18,000, while the number of deaths was 25,000, resulting in a natural population decrease of 7,000.

An official at the Huzhou Municipal Bureau of Statistics noted that the factors affecting the fluctuation in the permanent residents of a given area include both natural and mechanical growth, with mechanical growth referring to population migration.

Given the negative natural growth rate observed in Huzhou in 2023, it can be inferred that mechanical growth has played a significant role in the city's population increase, the official explained.

Wuxing district emerged as the most populous administrative area in Huzhou, with a permanent population of 735,000, followed by Changxing, a county-level city of Huzhou, with 682,000 million. Anji county, Deqing county, Nanxun district and Southern Taihu New District followed with populations ranging from 315,000 to 600,000.