Guangdong growing

China’s southern province of Guangdong was the only more developed region of China to see population growth in 2025 according to official statistics, accounting for one in eight of all births in the country. The data reported the province’s population growth rate—measured as number of births minus number of deaths—as 2.26 per 1,000 people.

Guangdong’s population as of 2025 was 128.9 million, making up around 9.15% of the country’s total population and contributing 12.5% of births—or around one in eleven Chinese people. Both Guangdong and the Yangtze River Delta region (the YRD, comprised of Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui) are mainland China’s two wealthiest and most economically dynamic regions, and yet despite the YRD having almost double the population, had a birthrate 66% lower than Guangdong, and recorded more deaths than births.

Analysts have cited the main causes for Guangdong’s high birthrate—which has been consistently high every year—as being due to a relatively young population, a childbearing culture and having good public services and economic support. Perhaps most interesting of those factors, though, is the cultural aspect, as Guangdong is one of China’s more traditional regions, and this should not be overlooked. The people of Guangdong traditionally maintain strong family values, and family temples and genealogy records maintain an important position in society relative to other parts of the country. There is generally stronger pressure from elders to ensure the family line continues, whereas in other parts of China where social upheavals in the twentieth century may have been stronger, there may be more of a surrender to the reality of living in a slowing economy.