In recent years, Hefei has frequently been trending, becoming the “number one city for population growth” and gaining widespread attention. By the end of 2023, Hefei’s permanent population reached 9.853 million, an increase of 219,000 from 2022, ranking first among cities nationwide. Hefei has thus become the city closest to the ten million mark in terms of population.
It is worth noting that, among Hefei’s population increase, apart from 18,000 through natural growth, the remaining 201,000 are migrants.
Not only has Hefei’s population grown rapidly, but talent has also gathered quickly, showing “double acceleration.” In 2023, Hefei welcomed nearly 1,000 new post-doctoral researchers, over 5,000 new high-level talents, and trained over 80,000 new highly skilled personnel. Especially noteworthy is the addition of over 350,000 newly employed college graduates, reaching a historical high, with nearly 1 million new employed college graduates in the local area in the past three years.
The analysis indicates that the attractiveness of “new first-tier” and “strong second-tier” cities is increasing, with the city with the strongest population attraction shifting from first-tier cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen to central provincial capitals like Hefei.
Where industries flourish, talents gather. Cities with breakthroughs in the economy and good momentum in the development of emerging industries have leading population attraction, especially in industries such as new energy vehicles, advanced manufacturing, and the internet, which drive employment significantly.
In the long run, as the “battle for population” among cities intensifies, truly attracting and retaining talent still relies on industrial development and employment opportunities.
Hefei, the “number one city for population growth,” ranks 13th in this financial strength competition, 7 places higher than its GDP ranking. The secret to Hefei’s advancement, besides leading in population attraction, lies in the comprehensive strengthening of indicators such as capitalization level, activity of private capital, and strength of financial institutions.
In 2023, Hefei’s GDP reached 1.20131 trillion yuan, and the value added of the financial industry was 116.67 billion yuan, an increase of 8.7%, accounting for 9.2% of GDP. Hefei has 83 A-share listed companies, with a total market value exceeding 700 billion yuan, and has added 8 A-share companies since 2023. In addition, in terms of the activity of private capital, Hefei’s ability to create wealthy individuals also ranks at the forefront. As the “city of venture capital,” Hefei’s venture capital market is also very active.
Hefei’s advancement in financial strength relies on the revitalization of its industries. In 2023, its industrial value added of above designated size grew by over 10%, ranking third among trillion-dollar cities, and its balance of RMB and foreign currency loans grew by 17%, ranking first among trillion-dollar cities. There was a net increase of 1,994 national high-tech enterprises, with a total of 8,406, and the number of national technology-based SMEs exceeded 11,000, doubling in two years. The number of “four-up” enterprises exceeded 10,000 for the first time, with a net increase of 176,000 market entities and a total of 1.69 million.
In recent years, the proportion of new industry output value in Hefei’s above designated size industry has approached 60%, with 6 new industrial enterprises with output value exceeding 10 billion yuan, totaling 22. In particular, the new energy vehicle industry has achieved leapfrog development, with a production of 746,000 new energy vehicles in 2023, an increase of 140% year-on-year, ranking among the top five in all cities, and a total automobile production of 1.34 million.
The competition of trillion-GDP cities’ financial strength also allows us to see the promotion passwords and development directions of different cities. Provincial capitals in central China such as Hefei are promoting the utilization level of the capital market by upgrading industries and attracting population inflows. Trillion-GDP cities are actively joining the practice of building a strong financial country, with Hefei aiming to build a highland of science and technology finance.
Breaking the trillion-GDP mark is an important milestone for a city, symbolizing its industrial agglomeration, capital accumulation, population concentration, and leap to a new stage of influence. Cities with trillion-GDP are leading the way in national financial construction, industrial structure adjustment, technological innovation, and talent introduction, and their future prospects are still promising.”