China's Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Chengdu remain the top three cities for population growth in the past decade, with population increases of 7.14 million, 5.98 million and 5.82 million respectively, according to the seventh population census.

Among provincial capitals and major cities with strong economies, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Xi'an, Zhengzhou, Hangzhou, Chongqing, Changsha, Wuhan and Foshan witnessed the largest population increases during the past 10 years, the WeChat account guominjinglve reported on Monday, which focuses on the Chinese economy as well as its cities and property markets.

Provincial capitals, as economic and industrial hubs, tend to attract more people, and this trend is expected to intensify in the future, the report said.

Shenzhen, Xi'an, Guangzhou, Zhengzhou, Changsha and Chengdu posted top six population growth rates in the past decade, at 68.5, 53, 47.1, 46.1, 42.6 and 38.5 percent respectively, representing increases of 7.14 million, 4.49 million, 5.98 million, 3.97 million, 3 million and 5.82 million.

Also worth mentioning is Southwest China's Chongqing, with a population increase of 3.2 million, was the only one of the four municipalities to rank in the top 10 cities for population growth from 2010 to 2020.

Northeast China, which includes Heilongjiang, Liaoning and Jilin provinces, saw its population decrease by 11 million during the past 10 years due to low birth rate and population outflow. However, not all cities in this region are declining in population, the report said.

Statistics from the Liaoning Provincial Bureau of Statistics show central cities in Northeast China, such as Shenyang and Dalian, registered population increases of 922,000 and 761,000 during the past decade, indicating a strong population attraction ability for central cities.