BEIJING: The southern boomtown of Shenzhen reported a slight population decrease for 2022 — a first since the city’s founding in 1979. According to the Shenzhen municipal bureau of statistics, the city had 17.66 million permanent residents at the end of 2022, a drop of about 20,000 from 2021. Last year, there were 5.83 million permanent residents with Shenzhen household registrations, accounting for 33 percent of the overall population of the city. The number of migrant workers was 11.82 million in 2022, decreasing by 290,000 from the year before. He Yafu, a demographer, told news portal Jiemian that the reduction in the permanent resident population was the result of the COVID-19 pandemic, as demand for employment in some industries fell. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
