section_path: Demographics
section_name: Demographics
paragraph_text: Demographics
  
  The diverse areas of Southwestern China carry strong regional identities and have been historically considered more rural than the more developed eastern regions of China. Rapid development since the late 1970s has helped transform many parts of the region with modern advancements. In the early 21st century, Southwestern China contained 50% of the country's ethnic minority population which, in turn, formed 37% of the region's population. Han Chinese migration has been largely concentrated in the urban centres, while the rural areas are still predominantly made up of minority populations, including the Zhuang, Miao, Yi, and others.
  
  Inhabitants of Southwestern China primarily speak a dialect of Mandarin Chinese known as Southwestern Mandarin. This variant uses the same written language as Mandarin but is only approximately 50% mutually intelligible with Standard Chinese. As of 2012, there were approximately 260 million speakers of Southwestern Mandarin.