Natural Changes in Population

Shanghai is the first area in China to report a negative population growth rate. The city has registered a negative population growth rate for 11 consecutive years since 1993. In 2003, the city's natural population growth rate was -0.33%, with the birth rate reaching 0.43% and mortality rate 0.76%.

                      Population

The size of population in Shanghai keeps growing. At the beginning when Shanghai was turned into a city, it only had a population of less than 100,000. By the time Shanghai was liberated in 1949, the city had a population of only 5.2 million. By the end of 2003, Shanghai's population of residents with permanent resident papers had grown to 13.4177 million, representing 1% of China's total. The population of long-term residents reached 17.11 million, 860,000 more than in the previous year. In 2003, the average population density in the city stood at 2,116 people per square kilometer.

Changes In The City's Population

Year-end Population (Unit: 10,000 people)

Birth Rate (%)

Mortality Rate (%)

Natural Growth Rate (%)

1990   1283.35   1.02   0.67   0.35

1991   1287.20   0.78   0.67   0.11

1992   1289.37   0.73   0.71   0.02

1993   1294.74   0.65   0.73   -0.08

1994   1298.81   0.59   0.73   -0.14

1995   1301.37   0.55   0.75   -0.20

1996   1304.43   0.52   0.75   -0.23

1997   1305.46   0.49   0.73   -0.24

1998   1306.58   0.47   0.78   -0.31

1999   1313.12   0.50   0.73   -0.23

2000   1321.63   0.53   0.72   -0.19

2001   1327.14   0.43   0.70   -0.27

2002   1334.23   0.47   0.73   -0.26

2003   1341.80   0.43   0.76   -0.33

Population And Population Density (year-end of 2002)

District/County

Population (10,000)

Population Density (person/sq.km)

Huangpu District  61.89    49845

Luwan District    32.84    40793

Xuhui District    88.61    16181

Changning District   61.71    16113

Jing'an District  32.07    42084

Putuo District    84.53    15417

Zhabei District   70.79    24192

Hongkou District  79.22    33741

Yangpu District   108.17   17812

Pudong District   176.69   3380

Minhang District  75.12    2021

Jiading District  51.18    1115

Baoshan District  85.43    2057

Jinshan District  52.71    899

Songjiang District   50.68    838

Qingpu District   45.83    678

Nanhui District   69.91    1017

Fengxian District 50.87    740

Chongming County  63.54    610

Shanghai's Population Structure In 2003 (%)

        District/County      Urban/Rural      Male/Female

       District  County     Urban  Rural     Male  Female

2003    95.2     4.8         77.6  22.4       50.3   49.7

    Education Level of Population

The overall education level of Shanghai's population has been steadily improving. According to the 5th national census, 11.4% of the city's population aged six and above had a college-equivalent education in 2000, 4.3 percentage points more than 1990. Those with senior high school education accounted for 23.9% of the local population, up 2.8 percentage points while residents with junior middle school education accounted for 38.2%, an increase of 4 percentage points. The segment of population with no more than primary school education fell by 11.1 percentage points. Only 5.4% of the local people aged 15 and above had no education or very little schooling, down from 11.1% in 1990.

Changes In The City's Population