Demographics: Look beyond China's tiers

Traditionally, China's economic hubs were confined to the big coastal cities, but investment is creeping inward to the major inland cities and the surrounding smaller ones.

Demographics: Look beyond China's tiers

Tim SchlickDDB China

Marketers struggling to grasp China's demographics must avoid simplistic findings and over-reliance on city tiers. The truth is far more complex.

China is massive. It is roughly the size of the US but with a population more than four times larger. It consists of 22 provinces, has eight official languages, a population of 1.3 billion people and 25 cities with a population of more than three million. Diverse in terms of economic development, culture and living conditions, to say China is a complex market is something of an understatement.

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