Historical population Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1954[49] 6,100,104 — 1964[50] 12,348,638 +7.31% 1982[51] 19,274,279 +2.50% 1990[52] 21,456,798 +1.35% 2000[53] 23,323,347 +0.84% 2010[3] 24,706,321 +0.58% Established in 1947 from dissolution of Xing'an Province, Qahar Province, parts of Rehe Province, and Suiyuan Province; parts of Ningxia Province were incorporated into Inner Mongolia AR.