With just a year to go until Beijing’s self-imposed deadline to become an international hub of innovation, just 22,000 foreigners are living and working long term in the Chinese capital.
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The estimate, from a report compiled by the Beijing International Talent Exchange Association and released at a forum late last month, is well down on the 37,000 foreigners reportedly working in the city a decade ago.
The report did not give comparisons for previous years, but it said fewer foreigners had taken up long-term jobs in the city in recent years, to the point where they account for just 0.2 per cent of the capital’s workforce and 0.1 per cent of its population.
There has also been a shift in the origins of Beijing’s foreign community since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The report said the percentage of Americans and Europeans had dropped from 16 per cent in 2019 to 12, while Africans now made up 31 per cent of the foreign work force, up from 26 per cent.
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The proportion of Russians and residents from eastern Europe is also up, from 11 per cent in 2019 to 16 per cent.