Administrative division and population

Zhejiang now has 11 prefecture-level cities: Hangzhou, Ningbo, Wenzhou, Jiaxing, Huzhou, Shaoxing, Jinhua, Quzhou, Zhoushan, Taizhou, and Lishui; 37 city districts; 20 county-level cities; 33 counties (including one autonomous county); 619 towns; 257 townships; and 489 sub-districts.

Population of Zhejiang

According to the 2024 provincial 5‰ population change sample survey, at the end of 2024, the permanent population of the province was 66.7 million, an increase of 430,000 compared with the permanent population of 66.27 million at the end of 2023.

At the end of 2024, the permanent population of the whole province was 50.33 million in the cities and towns and 16.37 million in the countryside. The proportion of the urban population in the total population (i.e. the urbanization rate) was 75.5%, an increase of 1.3 percentage points compared to 2023.

At the end of 2024, of the permanent population of the province, 34.81 million were men, accounting for 52.2% of the total population, and 31.89 million women, accounting for 47.8% of the total population. The sex ratio (the ratio of men to women, with women as 100) was 109.2.

At the end of 2024, of the permanent population of the province, 8.76 million were people aged 0–15, accounting for 13.1% of the total population, a decrease of 0.3 percentage points from the previous year; 43 million were aged 16–59, accounting for 64.5% of the total population, a decrease of 0.6 percentage points from the previous year. The population aged 60 and above was 14.94 million, accounting for 22.4% of the total population, an increase of 0.9 percentage points over the previous year. Among them, the population aged 65 and above was 10.48 million, accounting for 15.7% of the total population, an increase of 0.3 percentage points over the previous year.

In 2024, the province's birth population was 410,000, the death toll was 434,000, and the natural decrease in population was 24,000. The birth rate was 6.17 per thousand, the death rate 6.53 per thousand, and the natural growth rate -0.36 per thousand. Compared with 2023, the birth rate increased by 0.37 per thousand, the death rate decreased by 0.13 per thousand, and the natural growth rate increased by 0.50 per thousand.