Shanghai, one of China’s most popular cities for expatriates and international businesses, had a decline in the number of foreign residents in the first quarter of the year, the Shanghai Daily reported last Thursday, citing unnamed officials.
The number of foreigners – including residents from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau – fell 2% from a year earlier to 255,000, the newspaper said. Some 170,000 were non-Chinese that make up 25% of the total number of foreigners in China, the Shanghai Daily reported.
The decline comes at a time of worries among international companies about China’s investment climate. The city is also battling unhealthy levels of air pollution that hurts its appeal as a place to live.
Multinationals including GM and Ford have headquarters in Shanghai.
The number of foreigners living in China is a tiny fraction of its 1.3 billion total population, the world's largest.
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