Huainan, known as Zhoulai in ancient times, Anhui Province under the jurisdiction of prefecture-level city, Ⅱ large cities, approved by The State Council to determine East China to coal, power based energy production base, Anhui north important central city and national important energy base. Huainan is located in the central and northern part of Anhui Province, the hinterland of the Yangtze River Delta and the bank of the Huaihe River. It is known as the "throat of Zhongzhou and the barrier of Jiangnan". It is an important node along the Huaihe City cluster, adjacent to Chuzhou in the east, Hefei in the southeast, Lu 'an in the southwest, Fuyang in the west, Bozhou and Bengbu in the north. As of June 2022, the city has jurisdiction over 5 municipal districts and 2 counties, with a total area of 5,650 square kilometers. By the end of 2021, Huainan has a permanent population of 3.04 million.

Huainan is the core city of Hefei metropolitan area, China's energy capital, an important industrial city in Anhui Province, China's excellent tourism city, China's livable city, the national green Model city, the National Garden city, the national first batch of pilot smart city, China's best investment city, China's most happy city, and the city of Chinese idioms and allusions.

In 2021, Huainan achieved regional GDP of 145.71 billion yuan, with a year-on-year growth of 5.7%.