Beijing, May 20 (IANS): The population of Beijing stood at 21.89 million at the end of October 2020, an increase of 2.28 million from 2010, according to authorities in the Chinese capital city.

This represents an average annual growth rate of 1.1 per cent from 2010 to 2020, lower than the average annual growth of 3.8 per cent from 2000 to 2010, Xinhua news agency quoted Meng Jingwei, head of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics, as saying on Wednesday.

Of the capital's permanent residents, nearly 11.2 million are males, about 51.1 per cent.

The gender ratio in the city reached 104.7 males to 100 females, more balanced than the ratio of 106.8 males to 100 females in 2010, according to the Bureau.

In terms of age composition, the number of residents aged 60 or above was nearly 4.3 million, about 19.6 per cent of Beijing's permanent population, 7.1 percentage points higher than the level in 2010.

Among them, over 2.91 million were at least 65 years of age, accounting for 13.3 per cent of the total permanent population, said Meng, adding that the aging of Beijing's population has further deepened.

According to data from the latest national census released earlier this month, China's population on the mainland reached 1.4 billion, growing 0.53 per cent annually on average in the past decade.

The rate was slightly lower than the average annual growth of 0.57 per cent from 2000 to 2010.