| Year | Pop. | ±% p.a. |
|---|---|---|
| 57 | 280,600 | — |
| 589 | 458,000 | +0.09% |
| 938 | 100,000 | −0.44% |
| 1113 | 583,000 | +1.01% |
| 1125 | 340,000 | −4.39% |
| 1207 | 1,600,000 | +1.91% |
| 1216 | 285,000 | −17.44% |
| 1270 | 1,053,000 | +2.45% |
| 1327 | 3,032,000 | +1.87% |
| 1369 | 208,000 | −6.18% |
| 1448 | 3,150,000 | +3.50% |
| 1644 | 698,000 | −0.77% |
| 1647 | 1,839,000 | +38.12% |
| 1781 | 2,956,242 | +0.35% |
| 1881 | 3,226,111 | +0.09% |
| 1910 | 2,485,442 | −0.90% |
| 1917 | 3,711,566 | +5.90% |
| 1935 | 4,595,000 | +1.19% |
| 1949 | 2,030,000 | −5.67% |
| 1953 | 2,768,149 | +8.06% |
| 1964 | 7,568,495 | +9.57% |
| 1982 | 9,230,687 | +1.11% |
| 1990 | 10,819,407 | +2.00% |
| 2000 | 13,569,194 | +2.29% |
| 2010 | 19,612,368 | +3.75% |
| 2013 | 21,150,000 | +2.55% |
| Population size may be affected by changes on administrative divisions. | ||
The registered population of Beijing Municipality consists of people holding either Beijing permanent residence hukou permits or temporary residence permits. The 2010 census revealed that the official total population in Beijing was 19,612,368,[1] representing a 44% increase over the last decade.[2] In 2006, the population of the urban core was 13.33 million, 84.3 percent of the total municipal population, which officially stood at 15.81 million.[3] Urban sprawl continues at a rapid pace.[4]
After Chongqing and Shanghai,[1] Beijing is the third largest of the four directly controlled municipalities of the People's Republic of China. In the PRC, a directly controlled municipality (直辖市 in pinyin: zhíxiáshì) is a city with status equal to a province. Even though Chongqing is the most populous municipality, it has a larger land area than either Beijing or Shanghai and includes many rural areas; Brittany Hite of The Wall Street Journal stated that Chongqing "is more akin to a small province than a city."[5]
According to the statistical yearbook issued in 2005 by the National Bureau of Statistics of China, out of a total population in 2004 of 14.213 million in Beijing, 1.415 million (9.96%) were 0–14 years old, 11.217 million (78.92%) were 15–64 and 1.581 million (11.12%) 65 and over.[6]
As of 2014, the population of Beijing almost equalled that of Australia.[5]