The Zhejiang Bureau of Statistics released Hangzhou's latest demographic data on Feb 22.

As of the end of 2021, Hangzhou's permanent resident population was 12.204 million, up from 11.936 million at the end of 2020.

The urbanization rate, or the proportion of urbanites in the city's permanent resident population, stood at 83.6 percent at the end of 2021.

The proportion of residents aged between 16 and 59 years stood at 70.12 percent. Hangzhou residents' average age is 38.77 years. About 500 million of them are aged between 20 to 39.

It is estimated that Hangzhou will have a permanent population of about 15 million by 2035 and the city will improve its public facilities for a maximum of 20 million residents.

Female white collar workers in an office building in Xihu district, Hangzhou. [Photo/VCG]

Last year, Hangzhou topped an Economist Intelligence Unit ranking of Chinese cities with the greatest economic growth potential in the next few years.

All the cities in the top 10 are in eastern and southern China, except for Beijing, which ranked sixth after Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Zhuhai. Suzhou, Hefei, Nanjing and Ningbo rounded up the list.

The EIU said "Hangzhou (Zhejiang), and Nanjing and Suzhou (both Jiangsu) will benefit from the central government's expected innovation and productivity drive under the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25), as they have attracted large inflows of skilled workers."