The second largest provincial economy is scrambling to attract young people.

According to Xinhua Daily, on October 10, the Jiangsu Provincial Government issued *Several Measures on Supporting the Construction of Youth Communities* (hereinafter referred to as the "Several Measures"), rolling out 21 initiatives to build a batch of youth communities that "best understand young people". This marks the first provincial-level policy document nationwide that systematically deploys the construction of youth communities.

It makes clear that the construction of youth communities shall be promoted in a categorized manner. Based on the spatial distribution characteristics of young people and urban development strategies, the construction will be deeply integrated with industrial upgrading, innovation and entrepreneurship, universities and research institutes, transportation hubs and other sectors, with priorities on building youth communities in OPC communities, areas around universities and scientific research institutes, urban core zones, industrial parks and other locations.

The Several Measures also puts forward a series of requirements: increasing the number of free stays and length of free accommodation at youth stations; promoting the service of direct monthly rent payment via provident fund based on actual situations; raising the subsidy intensity of housing tickets for young talents; increasing the maximum provident fund loan limit for young talents in line with local conditions; supporting young people with housing difficulties to purchase houses through housing purchase subsidies, interest discounts and other approaches; exploring the permission to apply for provident fund loans to purchase property-right apartments.

The development of a city, in the final analysis, is the development of people. At present, population resources, especially high-quality labor force, have become the key variable and core element affecting regional economic development. Jiangsu's rollout of the nation's first provincial-level youth community policy is rooted in the in-depth consideration of population structure changes.

By the end of 2025, the permanent resident population of Jiangsu Province reached 85.18 million, 80,000 less than that of the previous year -- marking its first negative population growth since 1978.

Population growth is divided into natural growth and mechanical growth.

Statistics show that the natural population growth rate of Jiangsu has been negative for 5 consecutive years since 2021. In 2025, the birth rate of Jiangsu was 4.2‰ and the mortality rate was 7.8‰, leading to a natural population decrease of 307,000 in the whole year, while the net inflow of population in the same period was 227,000 -- the population inflow cannot fill the natural gap, which is the direct cause of the downward trend of the population curve.

In terms of population structure, by the end of 2025, the population aged 65 and above in Jiangsu reached 16.21 million, accounting for 19.0%, and the population aged 60 and above reached 22.74 million, accounting for 26.7%, which are 3.1 and 3.7 percentage points higher than the national average respectively. The degree of population aging in Jiangsu is significantly deeper than the national average level.

More importantly, Jiangsu is also facing pressure in talent retention. Research published by the team of Professor Gu Xin from Southeast University in *Jiangsu Higher Education* Issue 6, 2026 shows that the overall foundation for Jiangsu to retain graduates remains stable, but the outflow of highly educated groups has intensified: the retention rate of PhD holders in Jiangsu has dropped from 58.1% to 52.9%, the retention rate of master's degree holders in Nanjing has dropped from 25.6% to 19.7%, and the proportion of inter-provincial talent flow to Zhejiang, Anhui and Guangdong has increased.

Against such a background, the Proposal of the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee on the 15th Five-Year Plan previously clearly stated that "building a youth-friendly province and enhancing the population absorption capacity".

In March this year, the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial Government jointly issued the *Action Plan for Promoting High-Quality Urban Development in Jiangsu*, further clearly proposing to "build talent-friendly cities", "construct youth communities and blocks, support the establishment of youth entrepreneurship ports, and attract more college graduates to find employment in Jiangsu".

The 2026 Jiangsu Provincial Government Work Report also proposed to improve the population service system covering the whole population and the full life cycle, and enhance the population absorption capacity. At the same time, it is necessary to truly "be willing to invest funds in people", build youth communities that "best understand young people", so that more innovation and entrepreneurship dreams can find fertile soil for growth in Jiangsu.

According to the interpretation from the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, "The core of this 'understanding' requires us to not only grasp the demands of young people, but also be considerate of their difficulties. Promoting the construction of youth communities is to enable young people to 'enter smoothly, stay stably, live safely, and achieve career success'."

From this perspective, the significance of the latest policy goes far beyond providing housing security for young people, and more importantly, it provides strong support for the basic population base of Jiangsu.

This article is from the WeChat Official Account "City Evolution", author: Liu Yanmei, published with authorization from 36Kr.