BEIJING – Chinese Capital Beijing’s population shrank in 2017- the firsttime in 17 years – as the result of nonessential functions being relocatedoutside the city and better urban management, authorities said.
The capital had 21.7 million permanent residents by the end of last year,22,000 less than in 2016, a 0.1 percent fall year-on-year, according to theBeijing Bureau of Statistics.
The growth rate of Beijing’s population has been falling since 2011. PangJiangqian, spokeswoman for the bureau, said the negative growth in 2017 isin accordance with the city’s development.
As the development gap between rural and urban areas has been narrowingduring the continuous urbanization, some provinces and cities have seenpeople returning from big cities.