Why Gen Z is abandoning Beijing for greener fields elsewhere in China
The percentage of the capital’s population aged between 20 and 29 plunged from 21.3 per cent in 2015 to 11.4 per cent in 2024
Online content writer Phoebe Zhao is packing her bags to leave Beijing after two years in the Chinese capital.
But the 26-year-old is not heading back to her hometown in northeastern China’s Heilongjiang province. She is opting instead to pursue postgraduate study in Shanghai, hoping it will serve as a springboard to career opportunities in the surrounding Yangtze River Delta.
People born in northern China in the 1980s and ’90s used to consider Beijing the best place to build a career.
But for Zhao’s Gen Z cohort, born between 1997 and 2012, the tide is turning south.
“For my generation, the first choice is Zhejiang province or Shanghai,” Zhao said. “It’s not Beijing any more.”
Statistics underscore the shift in Gen Z’s preferences. The percentage of Beijing’s population aged between 20 and 29 plunged from 21.3 per cent in 2015 to 11.4 per cent in 2024, according to the city’s annual statistical yearbook, which was released in March.
The number of Beijing permanent residents in that age group has nearly halved over the past decade, plummeting from 4.62 million in 2015 to 2.49 million in 2024.