China’s most prosperous province is now also the most populous Chinese province with more than 100 million residents. Guangdong Province reported 1 million babies born in the first nine months of 2008, and the total was expected to exceed 1.2 million by the end of December, according to a China Daily report.

South China’s economic powerhouse, Guangdong’s gross domestic product achieved 3.06 trillion yuan (US$447 billion) in 2007, ranking it first among 31 Chinese provinces and municipalities and accounting for 12.4% of China’s total GDP of 24.66 trillion yuan.

Earlier this year, it was reported that Guangdong’s GDP had overtaken that of Taiwan, after outpacing Singapore and Hong Kong. Guangdong’s GDP per capita had reached US$4000 and its financial revenue rose from 280 billion yuan to 775 billion yuan last year, up 34.7% from 2006 and at an average annual growth of 21.4%.

Guangdong is China’s 3rd largest auto importer by value, behind Beijing and Jilin. Because of its strong re-export-oriented industries, Guangdong has led the country in foreign trade for the past 22 years, with exports and imports totaling US$630 billion in 2007, or nearly one third of the country’s total.

In 2005, Guangdong entered a baby boom, which could last for 10 years. The floating population has continued to grow, and about 250,000 newborns - 70,000 more than last year - have come from that sector of the community.

A further 30,000 babies were born to couples made up of only-children, which since 2002 have been allowed to have two children. The lighter sentences - fines rather than detainment (money which the richest Chinese province can probably afford) - being handed down to families that abuse the national family planning policy have also fueled a spike in the number of newborns.

The desire to have a child in the year of the Beijing Olympics had probably also contributed to the baby boom, according to the provincial population and family planning committee.

While the ratio of male to female babies born in the province is now 1.15:1 - down from 1.3:1 in 2000 - there is still a massive gender imbalance. “Unless the government does something about it, by 2020, 4.6 million men will have no choice but to live as bachelors,” said Zhang Feng, director of the committee.

Guangdong’s population is also rising because people are living longer and the province has 10 million seniors aged 65 plus.