The Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area, commonly referred to as the Greater Bay Area (GBA) or Pearl River megalopolis, is a megalopolis, consisting of nine cities and two special administrative regions in South China.
It is the largest and most populated urban area in the world. The GBA—with a total population of approximately 86 million people—includes nine mega cities of Guangdong province: Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Jiangmen, Huizhou, and Zhaoqing as well as two special administrative regions, Hong Kong, and Macao (Macau). Hong Kong, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen have been described among the world's 50 "superstar cities". Surrounding the Pearl River Delta with a total area of 56,000 km2 (comparable in size to Croatia), it is the largest and the richest economic region in South China.
The GBA's combined regional GDP was RMB¥15 trillion (US$2.1 trillion) in 2024, which was equivalent to Spain. In 2024, the GDP of the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area surpassed RMB 14.5 trillion. As one of China's most vibrant and important regions, the GBA has the highest concentration of Fortune 500 companies in the country and houses a majority of China's most innovative technology companies, such as Huawei, ZTE, DJI, BYD, GAC Group, and Tencent (parent company of WeChat). GBA has a rich ecosystem of startups, incubators, and accelerators in the fields of agile tech, biotech, medical tech, and innovation. For these reasons, many experts consider the region an emerging Silicon Valley of Asia. According to the WIPO Innovation Cluster Rating 2025, the region is the leading science and technology cluster in the world.
Definition The "Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area" is sometimes confused with the area of the Pearl River Delta, which is a term coined in 1947 referring to a smaller area. In the early 2000s, Chinese scholars began using the term "Greater Pearl River Delta" (GPRD) which described the 9 + 2 city agglomeration that encompassed post-handover Hong Kong and Macao, conceptualized as a series of lesser cities as industrial nodes with specialist functions clustering around two prominent cores – Guangzhou and Shenzhen. In 2003, the province advocated the idea of "Pan-PRD" as an even more extensive regional construct that comprised nine neighboring provinces to promote economic cooperation. A somewhat similar idea is later mentioned in the English version of China's 13th Five-Year Plan, taking the Pearl River Delta and including the larger province of Guangdong. On 1 July 2017, the "Framework Agreement on Deepening Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Cooperation in the Development of the Bay Area" () was signed in Hong Kong.info.gov.hk
History The Greater Bay Area has been influenced by its coastal location for centuries. The first known ships from the area are believed to have been constructed by the people of the Nanyue Kingdom (204–112 BCE), who employed them for cultural and economic exchanges with countries as far as present-day Vietnam. After the takeover of the Han Dynasty, trading relations expanded beyond to reach Sri Lanka. During the subsequent period of the Three Kingdoms, these trade routes were consolidated. Trade and cultural exchanges grew. Among this, the port of Guangzhou played a major role for the region's trade and cultural exchanges for over two thousand years. Established under the Kingdom of Wu during the period of the Three Kingdoms (222–280 CE), it eventually grew to become the starting point of the ancient maritime silk road during the Eastern Jin Dynasty (317–420 CE). By the fourth century CE, communities of foreign merchants began establishing themselves in the city.
Since the first foreign merchants have established themselves in Guangdong, the whole GBA region's importance for global trade has only increased. When Macao became a Portuguese colony in the mid-1550s, it represented one of the first trading ports in the Far East. It was later joined by Guangzhou, whose port was the only one remaining open for foreign trade during the closure of the country under the Qing. The Opium Wars brought Hong Kong under British control and forced the opening of other ports in the region. While their respective economic importance was subject to fluctuations later on, the establishment of special economic zones should begin to drive their economic importance anew.2022 Foundation (2019). The Future of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area – Background Report. Retrieved 2021-08-31. http://www.2022foundation.com/images/GBA_BGdoc.pdf
Guangzhou, the provincial capital of Guangdong province, attracted the first U.S. investments such as Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, Pepsi in 1990s and to date is the most concentrated area of U.S.-financed enterprises which have invested in southern China.
On 18 February 2019, the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area was adopted. The ambitious goal foresees a linkage of the nine cities in Guangdong province's Pearl River Delta, Hong Kong and Macau into an integrated economy and world-class business hub. In addition, it is expected to play a key role in Belt and Road Initiative by connecting southern China with the countries along the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.
Geography The GBA is located in the southern coastal area of China, consisting of nine cities, or around 30% of the land mass, of the province of Guangdong, plus the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macao. Its climate ranges from humid subtropical to tropical climate in the far south. There are a few mountain ranges collectively called the Nanling as well as a few inactive volcanoes on Leizhou Peninsula.
Mountain ranges and peninsulas shape the GBA. The province of Guangdong, for instance, possesses a coastline of due to the multiplicity of islands, bays and peninsulas. This multiplicity of small islands results from the Pearl River Delta, which is the convergent point of the East, North and West Rivers. The network of bays and rivers has contributed to the archipelagic nature of many cities within the GBA. The cities of Guangzhou, Zhuhai, Hong Kong, and Macao for instance "each possess constituent and distinctly islanded territorial niches that are focused on particular industrial areas."
The entire area has temperate springs (March to May), hot and wet summers (June to August), clear and cool autumns (September to November), and mild, rainy winters (December to February). The annual average temperature of Guangdong Province is around , with the average temperature of in January and in July. However, the highest temperature in summer goes more than and the lowest can be lower than . Temperatures in Hong Kong and Macao are nearly the same, with the annual average temperature around , a little higher due to their location more to the south and closer to the equator. GBA receives abundant amount of precipitation throughout the year.
In 2019, GBA has a total population of approximately 86.17 million people (5% of China's total population). The population is expected to reach 100 million people by 2030. Cities Urbanarea pop. Districtarea pop. Administrativearea pop. Census date Guangzhou 10,641,408 14,904,40014,904,400 2020-11-01 Shenzhen 12,356,82012,356,82012,356,820 2020-11-01 Dongguan 8,396,820 8,396,820 8,396,820 2019-11-01 Hong Kong 7,515,489 7,515,4897,515,489 2020-06-30 Foshan 7,348,581 7,348,581 9,498,863 2020-11-01 Zhongshan 2,913,974 3,121,275 3,121,275 2020-11-01 Huizhou 1,807,858 2,344,634 4,598,402 2010-11-01 Jiangmen 1,480,023 1,822,614 4,450,703 2010-11-01 Zhuhai 1,369,538 1,759,0001,759,000 2020-11-01 Zhaoqing 784,642 1,397,152 3,916,467 2010-11-01 Macau 652,032652,032652,032 2020-08-12 Total 50,850,140 56,350,214 65,901,668
Demographics Languages The Ministry of Education (MOE) held a press conference on June 2, 2021, to disclose the "Report on the Language Life Situation in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Greater Bay Area (2021)". The report, which was compiled by the National Language Service and Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area Language Research Center under the auspices of the State Language Commission, together with a team from Guangzhou University, summarizes the state of language life in the region, and proposes recommendations for the construction of the language and writing environment and language services on the basis of the report.
Economy City Area km2 Population (2020) GDP (LCU) GDP (US$) Shenzhen 1,986 17,560,000 CN¥ 3,680 billion US$ 512.6 billion Guangzhou 7,434 18,676,605 CN¥ 3,103 billion US$ 432.2 billion Hong Kong 1,114 7,413,070 HK$ 3,138 billion US$ 401.8 billion Foshan 3,848 9,498,863 CN¥ 1,336 billion US$ 186.1 billion Dongguan 2,465 10,466,625 CN¥ 1,228 billion US$ 171.1 billion Huizhou 10,922 6,042,852 CN¥ 614 billion US$ 85.5 billion Zhuhai 1,724 2,439,585 CN¥ 448 billion US$ 62.4 billion Zhongshan 1,784 4,418,060 CN¥ 414 billion US$ 57.7 billion Macau 115 672,800 MOP$ 430 billion US$ 53.4 billion Jiangmen 9,535 4,798,090 CN¥ 421 billion US$ 58.2 billion Zhaoqing 14,891 4,113,594 CN¥ 292 billion US$ 40.7 billion Guangdong–Hong Kong–MacauGreater Bay Area 55,818 86,100,000 CN¥ 14.816 trillion US$ 2.062 trillion
The Greater Bay Area is a critical export hub, accounting for 37% of China's exports, driven by the large airports and railway stations of a well-connected transportation system. GBA hosts three of the world's top ten container ports and five international airports in Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Macau and Zhuhai. These airports account for an air freight traffic bigger than San Francisco, New York, and Tokyo combined.
The GBA is an economic powerhouse. Its combined regional GDP was RMB¥13 trillion (US$1.8 trillion) in 2022, which is equivalent to over 10 percent of GDP for all of China. If the GBA were its own country, it would rank as the 12th biggest economy globally (almost equal to South Korea's and bigger than Australia's economy). GDP growth of GBA was 4.4 per cent in 2019, and GDP is expected to reach US$4 trillion by 2030, which would lead the GBA's GDP to overtake that of Germany in 2019.
According to the latest statistics released by the Macao Statistics and Census Service and the governments of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area recorded a regional GDP of around RMB 14.0 trillion in 2023, which further exceeded RMB 14.5 trillion in 2024, with a total population of over 87 million. In 2024, the nine mainland cities of the GBA generated 8.6% of China's national GDP with only 0.58% of its land area and 5.6% of its population.
The GBA maintains a strong industrial base that underpins its economic development. Its economy is driven by a range of traditional and advanced manufacturing sectors, including wood and plastics processing, textiles, electronics, food production, construction, automotive and aerospace industries, medical technology, and information technology, including software and hardware development. The Outline Development Plan aims to establish industrial clusters focused on advanced equipment manufacturing in Zhuhai and Foshan, and high-end manufacturing in Shenzhen and Dongguan, building on the region's existing manufacturing base.
The region has a diverse economic outlook with industrial development zones in all eleven cities, covering emerging industries, R&D and high-end sectors, notably the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence, hydrogen technologies, new mobility, and cleantech. Healthcare is another rapidly growing sector in the Greater Bay Area. The Guangzhou International Bio-Technology Island (formerly known as Dove Island) located in Huangpu district, Guangzhou is a biotech industrial zone in the region.