Beijing sees slower growth of non-locals

Home to 8.2 million non-local residents, Beijing for the first time saw a slower year-on-year growth of non-locals compared to that of permanent residents in the last year, according to official data.

The non-local residents only increased by 0.5 percent, which is 0.4 percentage points lower than that of permanent residents.

The rapid decline of population growth, particularly that of non-local residents, has to do with signals released by the government that Beijing would rein in its population growth and speed up the process of shifting low-end industries from the capital to nearby regions, said Zhao Hong, deputy head of Beijing Academy of Social Sciences.

Last year, Beijing shut down a total of 326 polluting enterprises and torn down 57 wholesale markets with an area up to 948,000 square meters.

Zhao said while merchants have to adapt to new environment in surrounding regions, where infrastructure facilities and transportation need further improvement, they have made great contribution to ease pressure in the capital.

Population in Beijing has been long increased at a breakneck speed, as it only took 14 years from 2000 to 2013 to increase a total of 8.57 million people, "a much faster speed" compared to years ago, as it took 46 years from 1953 to 1999 to increase by 10 million, according to the capital city’s mayor Wang Anshun.