China's capital had 21.5m residents last year as the population continues to grow
Beijing on a good day Image: Malcolm Browne |
The local government has pledged to keep the municipality's population under 23m in 2020 as Beijing's utilities and infrastructure are put under increasing strain.
After reaching 21.5m residents in 2014, Beijing has long since surpassed its target of less than 18m people by 2020, a figure that was agreed upon in 2005.
While the capital has always relied on other provinces for resources and supplies, a water shortage is fast becoming a concerning issue for residents and officials alike. Beijing is currently running a shortfall of around 1.5bn cubic metres of water each year, although it has taken steps like the south-to-north water diversion project to solve this issue.
Currently, the city sources around 70% of electricity, 40% of gasoline, 89% of coal, 70% of vegetables and 68% of the pork it consumes from neighbouring provinces.
At 21.5m people, it ranks seventh out of thirty six megacities globally (i.e. cities that are home to more than 10m inhabitants behind Shanghai, whose population rose to 25.4m in 2014. One in seven megacities are situated in China.