What is the population of Guangzhou, China, as of the 2020 census in millions?

Guangzhou had a population of 18.7 million at the 2020 census. China’s seventh national population census recorded 18,676,605 permanent residents in Guangzhou as of November 1, 2020, which rounds to 18.7 million.

Guangzhou is the capital of Guangdong province and the largest city in the Pearl River Delta by administrative population. Historically known in the West as Canton, it grew around the Pearl River and became one of China’s most important trading centers. Its maritime connections linked southern China with Southeast Asia, India, the Middle East and Europe for centuries.

The figure can be confused with Guangzhou’s built-up urban area or the wider Pearl River Delta megalopolis, which includes cities such as Foshan, Dongguan and Shenzhen. Those broader regions contain far more people than Guangzhou’s administrative boundary. The 2020 count also marked dramatic growth from the 2010 census, when Guangzhou recorded roughly 12.7 million permanent residents. Guangzhou remains a major manufacturing, logistics, technology and commerce hub.