In 2024, about 943.5 million people lived in urban regions in China and 464.8 million in rural. That year, the country had a total population of approximately 1.41 billion people. As of 2024, China was the second most populous country in the world. Urbanization in China Urbanization refers to the process by which people move from rural to urban areas and how a society adapts to the population shift. It is usually seen as a driving force in economic growth, accompanied by industrialization, modernization and the spread of education. Urbanization levels tend to be higher in industrial countries, whereas the degree of urbanization in developing countries remains relatively low. According to World Bank, a mere 19.4 percent of the Chinese population had been living in urban areas in 1980. Since then, China’s urban population has skyrocketed. By 2024, about 67 percent of the Chinese population lived in urban areas. Regional urbanization rates In the last decades, urbanization has progressed greatly in every region of China. Even in most of the more remote Chinese provinces, the urbanization rate surpassed 50 percent in recent years. However, the most urbanized areas are still to be found in the coastal eastern and southern regions of China. The population of Shanghai, the largest city in China and the world’s seventh largest city ranged at around 24 million people in 2023. China’s urban areas are characterized by a developing middle class. Per capita disposable income of Chinese urban households has more than doubled between 2010 and 2020. The emerging middle class is expected to become a significant driver for the continuing growth of the Chinese economy.

China Area of Urban Zone data was reported at 2,371,372.710 sq km in 2022. This records an increase from the previous number of 2,368,544.490 sq km for 2021. China Area of Urban Zone data is updated yearly, averaging 1,986,564.870 sq km from Dec 2006 (Median) to 2022, with 17 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 2,371,372.710 sq km in 2022 and a record low of 1,899,921.300 sq km in 2010. China Area of Urban Zone data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Land and Resources – Table CN.NLL: Urban Area.

This statistic shows the number of new employees in urban areas of China from 2014 to 2024. In 2024, approximately ***** million new jobs have been created in urban China.

The main goal of this study was to examine life chances among urban residents of China over time. Respondents aged 25-65 provided retrospective information concerning their education, work experience, political party membership, housing, family structure, and other social indicators. Those polled were asked about the type of education they received, whether they had an educational specialty (law, medicine, etc.), and what the location of their school was. Housing information collected on respondents included number of residents in the household, number of rooms, and living space, as well as whether there was a kitchen, tap water, a toilet, and a phone in the household. Respondents were also asked when they started working, in what economic sector, what the size of their work unit was, where it was located, and the type of ownership, as well as what their occupation was, whether it was a permanent or a temporary job, and the type of official position they held (party, administrative, technical, or other position). Additionally, respondents described their satisfaction with current living conditions and their state of health, and provided information on their family background (peasants, workers, military, clerks, etc.). Other information gathered on respondents included gender, date of birth, marital status, number of children, number of siblings, Youth League and Communist Party membership, and respondents' monthly income. Basic information related to respondents' parents (age, education, occupation, Communist Party membership, and others) was also provided. The same information was collected on respondents' spouses (spousal information was provided by either the spouse or the respondent).

China Consumer Price Index (CPI): Urban data was reported at 102.100 Prev Year=100 in 2018. This records an increase from the previous number of 101.657 Prev Year=100 for 2017. China Consumer Price Index (CPI): Urban data is updated yearly, averaging 102.000 Prev Year=100 from Dec 1951 (Median) to 2018, with 68 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 125.000 Prev Year=100 in 1994 and a record low of 94.100 Prev Year=100 in 1963. China Consumer Price Index (CPI): Urban data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under Global Database’s China – Table CN.IA: Consumer Price Index: Urban.

China % of Household grouped by Annual Income: Urban:RMB10000-15000 data was reported at 1.200 % in 2011. This records a decrease from the previous number of 1.980 % for 2010. China % of Household grouped by Annual Income: Urban:RMB10000-15000 data is updated yearly, averaging 3.840 % from Dec 2005 (Median) to 2011, with 7 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 10.100 % in 2005 and a record low of 1.200 % in 2011. China % of Household grouped by Annual Income: Urban:RMB10000-15000 data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Household Survey – Table CN.HD: Household Income Distribution: Urban.

This statistic depicts the access to water in urban China from 2009 to 2019. In 2019, approximately **** percent of the population in urban areas had access to water in China.

Urban population (% of total population) in China was reported at 65.54 % in 2024, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. China - Urban population (% of total) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on July of 2025.

China Household Survey: Urban: Number of Person Per Household data was reported at 2.860 Person in Dec 2012. This stayed constant from the previous number of 2.860 Person for Sep 2012. China Household Survey: Urban: Number of Person Per Household data is updated quarterly, averaging 3.000 Person from Mar 1999 (Median) to Dec 2012, with 55 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 3.100 Person in Sep 2002 and a record low of 2.860 Person in Dec 2012. China Household Survey: Urban: Number of Person Per Household data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Household Survey – Table CN.HC: No of Household Surveyed: Urban.

Population in urban agglomerations of more than 1 million in China was reported at 451017824 in 2024, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. China - Population in urban agglomerations of more than 1 million - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on July of 2025.

If you want to use this data, please cite our article:Xiong, S., Zhang, X., Lei, Y., Tan, G., Wang, H., & Du, S. (2024). Time-series China urban land use mapping (2016–2022): An approach for achieving spatial-consistency and semantic-transition rationality in temporal domain. Remote Sensing of Environment, 312, 114344.The global urbanization trend is geographically manifested through city expansion and the renewal of internal urban structures and functions. Time-series urban land use (ULU) maps are vital for capturing dynamic land changes in the urbanization process, giving valuable insights into urban development and its environmental consequences. Recent studies have mapped ULU in some cities with a unified model, but ignored the regional differences among cities; and they generated ULU maps year by year, but ignored temporal correlations between years; thus, they could be weak in large-scale and long time-series ULU monitoring. Accordingly, we introduce an temporal-spatial-semantic collaborative (TSS) mapping framework to generating accurate ULU maps with considering regional differences and temporal correlations. Firstly, to support model training, a large-scale ULU sample dataset based on OpenStreetMap (OSM) and Sentinel-2 imagery is automatically constructed, providing a total number of 56,412 samples with a size of 512 × 512 which are divided into six sub-regions in China and used for training different classification models. Then, an urban land use mapping network (ULUNet) is proposed to recognize ULU. This model utilizes a primary and an auxiliary encoder to process noisy OSM samples and can enhance the model's robustness under noisy labels. Finally, taking the temporal correlations of ULU into consideration, the recognized ULU are optimized, whose boundaries are unified by a time-series co-segmentation, and whose categories are modified by a knowledge-data driven method. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, we consider all urban areas in China (254,566 km2), and produce a time-series China urban land use dataset (CULU) at a 10-m resolution, spanning from 2016 to 2022, with an overall accuracy of CULU is 82.42%. Through comparison, it can be found that CULU outperforms existing datasets such as EULUC-China and UFZ-31cities in data accuracies, spatial boundaries consistencies and land use transitions logicality. The results indicate that the proposed method and generated dataset can play important roles in land use change monitoring, ecological-environmental evolution analysis, and also sustainable city development.

Urban population growth (annual %) in China was reported at 1.3741 % in 2024, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. China - Urban population growth (annual %) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on July of 2025.

This statistic shows the average annual per capita disposable income of urban households in China in 2023, by region. In 2023, the per capita disposable income in urban areas of Shanghai amounted to approximately ****** yuan.

Urban population in China was reported at 923498574 in 2024, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. China - Urban population - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on July of 2025.

China's rural-urban dual society system is instituted by its unique hukou system. This system causes inequalities in social status between permanent urban and rural residents, and discrimination against rural-to-urban migrants is thus prevalent. A series of studies, based on system justification theory, sought to address the impact of the hukou system on the discrimination against rural-to-urban migrants. Study 1 showed that the justification of the hukou system could predict discrimination operationalized using a social distance measure. Study 2 found that priming of the proposed abolishment of the current hukou system led to reduced social distance. Study 3, using a recruiting scenario, further demonstrated that priming of the proposed abolishment of the system led to reduced discrimination in salary decision. Consistent with our predictions, discrimination against rural-to-urban migrants could be triggered by justifying the current hukou system, while priming of the abolishment of the system serves to decrease discrimination. The present research thereby sheds light on China's reform of its hukou system to achieve social justice and equality from a psychological perspective.

China Household Survey (HS): Urban: Number of Household data was reported at 65,981.000 Unit in 2012. This records an increase from the previous number of 65,655.000 Unit for 2011. China Household Survey (HS): Urban: Number of Household data is updated yearly, averaging 39,562.000 Unit from Dec 1985 (Median) to 2012, with 28 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 65,981.000 Unit in 2012 and a record low of 24,338.000 Unit in 1985. China Household Survey (HS): Urban: Number of Household data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under Global Database’s China – Table CN.HC: No of Household Surveyed: Urban.

China Registered Unemployment: Urban data was reported at 12.810 Person mn in Jun 2022. This records an increase from the previous number of 11.020 Person mn for Mar 2022. China Registered Unemployment: Urban data is updated quarterly, averaging 9.150 Person mn from Dec 1999 (Median) to Jun 2022, with 91 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 12.810 Person mn in Jun 2022 and a record low of 5.600 Person mn in Mar 2000. China Registered Unemployment: Urban data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Labour Market – Table CN.GB: Registered Unemployment. [COVID-19-IMPACT] Suspended since 2022 自2022起暂停发布

China Consumption Exp per Capita: Urban: Transport & Communication: Transport data was reported at 3,567.000 RMB in 2023. This records an increase from the previous number of 3,009.400 RMB for 2022. China Consumption Exp per Capita: Urban: Transport & Communication: Transport data is updated yearly, averaging 781.765 RMB from Dec 1992 (Median) to 2023, with 32 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 3,567.000 RMB in 2023 and a record low of 33.550 RMB in 1992. China Consumption Exp per Capita: Urban: Transport & Communication: Transport data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Household Survey – Table CN.HD: Income and Expenditure per Capita: Urban.

China % of Household grouped by Annual Income: Urban:<RMB10000 data was reported at 0.400 % in 2011. This records a decrease from the previous number of 0.680 % for 2010. China % of Household grouped by Annual Income: Urban:<RMB10000 data is updated yearly, averaging 1.480 % from Dec 2005 (Median) to 2011, with 7 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 4.850 % in 2005 and a record low of 0.400 % in 2011. China % of Household grouped by Annual Income: Urban:<RMB10000 data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Household Survey – Table CN.HD: Household Income Distribution: Urban.

China Consumption Exp per Capita: Urban: Poor: Recreation, Educational & Cultural Service data was reported at 613.940 RMB in 2012. This records an increase from the previous number of 541.460 RMB for 2011. China Consumption Exp per Capita: Urban: Poor: Recreation, Educational & Cultural Service data is updated yearly, averaging 280.530 RMB from Dec 1985 (Median) to 2012, with 23 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 613.940 RMB in 2012 and a record low of 29.280 RMB in 1985. China Consumption Exp per Capita: Urban: Poor: Recreation, Educational & Cultural Service data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Household Survey – Table CN.HD: Consumption Structure by Income Level: Urban.