Around 300m migrant workers in China

The population of migrant workers in China reached nearly 300 million in 2024, according to the latest report released by the National Bureau of Statistics.

The 2024 migrant worker monitoring report showed that the total number of migrant workers across the country stood at 299.7 million, increasing 2.2 million from the previous year and marking a 0.7 percent increase.

The slight uptick indicated a continued slowdown in the overall growth rate of the migrant workforce, which had grown by 2.4 percent in 2021, 1.1 percent in 2022, and 0.6 percent in 2023.

Of the total, around 121 million were local migrant workers who got employed within their home counties, while 178.7 million were migrant workers working outside their home region. By the end of 2024, 132 million migrant workers were living in urban areas, the report said.

Among migrant workers working outside their home region, interprovincial migration was highest in central China, accounting for 51.8 percent, followed by the western, northeastern, and eastern parts of China.

All regions saw increases in the number of incoming migrant workers, the report showed. The eastern region absorbed 153.6 million migrant workers, up 860,000 from the previous year. The central region employed 70.4 million while the western region had 66 million.

The proportion of female migrant workers continued to rise, reaching 37.6 percent and seeing an increase of 0.3 percentage points from last year, the report said.

The average age of migrant workers edged up slightly to 43.2 years, 0.1 years higher than in 2023.

Meanwhile, average monthly incomes for migrant workers rose steadily. In 2024, migrant workers earned an average of 4,961 yuan ($687) per month, up 3.8 percent from the previous year. The figure was highest in the eastern part of China, reaching 5,368 yuan, it added.