BEIJING, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- A survey published Friday shows that 28 percent of foreigners plan to study, work or travel in China in the next three years.

Jointly conducted by the Center for International Communication Studies under the China Foreign Languages Publishing Administration, Kantar Millward Brown and Lightspeed, the 2016-2017 China National Image Global Survey interviewed citizens of 22 countries, with 500 respondents from each country.

Up to 39 percent of those from developing countries have plans to visit China within three years, much higher than the average, while the number is 36 percent among those aged between 18 and 35.

The countries with the most respondents interested in planning to visit are Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, India and Russia, according to the survey.

As for the most popular cities among foreigners, Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai remain the top three, but regions that respondents plan to visit are more various than in the previous survey in 2015.