Xinjiang Population Dynamics and Data
(September 2021)
Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, the mode of production in Xinjiang was backward and its productivity was low. Oppressed by foreign invaders, feudal exploiters, and a privileged religious hierarchy, people of all ethnic origins in the region led an extremely hard life with little security.
According to preliminary data from the seventh national census in 2020, the total population of Xinjiang was 25.85 million, among which the Han ethnic group numbered 10.92 million, and ethnic minorities 14.93 million.
Xinjiang has enjoyed peace and development since 1949. After the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region was established in 1955, the CPC and the central government implemented regional autonomy to ensure the equal status of all ethnic groups, and adopted a series of preferential policies to assist and support regional development. Ethnic minority groups in Xinjiang, including the Uygurs, entered an optimal period for development.
IV. Factors Contributing to Xinjiang's Demographic Development
Along with the process of industrialization, urbanization, and modernization, Xinjiang's demographic development went through three periods of growth: • high birth rates, high death rates and low growth rates; • high birth rates, low death rates and high growth rates; • low birth rates, low death rates and low growth rates.
Benefiting from consistent social stability, Xinjiang's population, in particular that of ethnic minority groups, will continue to maintain steady growth in the near term, improving the quality of the population and encouraging greater social and geographic mobility.
In recent years, various anti-China forces have been accusing China of actions such as "forced labor", "mandatory sterilizations", "parent-child separation", "cultural genocide", and "religious persecution". They smear Xinjiang, demonize China, and vilify China's governance of the region with accusations of "genocide".