Guangdong has replaced the central province of Henan as the mainland's most populous region as a result of rapid industrialisation and urbanisation in the past decade.
The National Bureau of Statistics released more details of last year's national census yesterday, including a breakdown of regional demographic data. Shandong retained second place on the list of most populous regions, pushing Henan into third place. Sichuan remains fourth and Jiangsu fifth.
Guangdong had 104.3 million permanent residents last year - 7.79 per cent of the population of the world's most populous country. If it was a country it would rank as the 12th most populous in the world, behind Mexico.
Shandong had a population of 95.7 million and Henan 94 million.
For the first time, last year's census covered Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwanese residents living on the mainland. It found there were around 234,000 Hongkongers.
It also said there were 170,000 Taiwanese living on the mainland last year, but observers believe that number may be understated because the island's Straits Exchange Foundation said there were more than 800,000 Taiwanese businessmen living on the mainland by the end of 2008.
The once-a-decade census also found there were 593,832 expats, with South Koreans, Americans and Japanese the biggest groups. The most popular places for expats were Guangdong, Shanghai and Beijing.