| Population | 1,397,897,720 (July 2021 est.) |
| Nationality | noun: Chinese (singular and plural) adjective: Chinese |
| Ethnic groups | Han Chinese 91.6%, Zhuang 1.3%, other (includes Hui, Manchu, Uighur, Miao, Yi, Tujia, Tibetan, Mongol, Dong, Buyei, Yao, Bai, Korean, Hani, Li, Kazakh, Dai, and other nationalities) 7.1% (2010 est.) note: the Chinese Government officially recognizes 56 ethnic groups |
| Languages | Standard Chinese or Mandarin (official; Putonghua, based on the Beijing dialect), Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghainese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese), Xiang, Gan, Hakka dialects, minority languages (see Ethnic groups entry); note - Zhuang is official in Guangxi Zhuang, Yue is official in Guangdong, Mongolian is official in Nei Mongol, Uighur is official in Xinjiang Uygur, Kyrgyz is official in Xinjiang Uygur, and Tibetan is official in Xizang (Tibet) major-language sample(s): ???? – ??????????? (Mandarin) The World Factbook, the indispensable source for basic information. |
| Religions | folk religion 21.9%, Buddhist 18.3%, Christian 5.2%, Muslim 2%, Hindu < 0.1%, Jewish < 0.1%, other 0.7% (includes Daoist (Taoist)), unaffiliated 51.8% (2020 est.) note: officially atheist |
| Age structure | 0-14 years: 17.29% (male 129,296,339/female 111,782,427) 15-24 years: 11.48% (male 86,129,841/female 73,876,148) 25-54 years: 46.81% (male 333,789,731/female 318,711,557) 55-64 years: 12.08% (male 84,827,645/female 83,557,507) 65 years and over: 12.34% (male 81,586,490/female 90,458,292) (2020 est.) |
| Dependency ratios | total dependency ratio: 42.2 youth dependency ratio: 25.2 elderly dependency ratio: 17 potential support ratio: 5.9 (2020 est.) data do not include Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan |
| Median age | total: 38.4 years male: 37.5 years female: 39.4 years (2020 est.) |
| Population growth rate | 0.26% (2021 est.) |
| Birth rate | 11.3 births/1,000 population (2021 est.) |
| Death rate | 8.26 deaths/1,000 population (2021 est.) |
| Net migration rate | -0.43 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2021 est.) |
| Population distribution | overwhelming majority of the population is found in the eastern half of the country; the west, with its vast mountainous and desert areas, remains sparsely populated; though ranked first in the world in total population, overall density is less than that of many other countries in Asia and Europe; high population density is found along the Yangtze and Yellow River valleys, the Xi Jiang River delta, the Sichuan Basin (around Chengdu), in and around Beijing, and the industrial area around Shenyang |
| Urbanization | urban population: 62.5% of total population (2021) rate of urbanization: 1.78% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.) note: data do not include Hong Kong and Macau |
| Major cities - population | 27.796 million Shanghai, 20.897 million BEIJING (capital), 16.382 million Chongqing, 13.794 million Tianjin, 13.635 million Guangzhou, 12.592 million Shenzhen (2021) |
| Sex ratio | at birth: 1.11 male(s)/female 0-14 years: 1.16 male(s)/female 15-24 years: 1.17 male(s)/female 25-54 years: 1.05 male(s)/female 55-64 years: 1.02 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.9 male(s)/female total population: 1.06 male(s)/female (2020 est.) |
| Maternal mortality rate | 29 deaths/100,000 live births (2017 est.) |
| Infant mortality rate | total: 11.15 deaths/1,000 live births male: 11.6 deaths/1,000 live births female: 10.64 deaths/1,000 live births (2021 est.) |
| Life expectancy at birth | total population: 76.31 years male: 74.23 years female: 78.62 years (2021 est.) |
| Total fertility rate | 1.6 children born/woman (2021 est.) |
| Contraceptive prevalence rate | 84.5% (2017) |
| Drinking water source | improved: urban: 97.7% of population rural: 87.8% of population total: 92.8% of population unimproved: urban: 2.3% of population rural: 12.2% of population total: 7.2% of population (2017 est.) |
| Health expenditures | 5.4% (2018) |
| Physicians density | 1.98 physicians/1,000 population (2017) |
| Hospital bed density | 4.3 beds/1,000 population (2017) |
| Sanitation facility access | improved: urban: 97.1% of population rural: 82% of population total: 90.7% of population unimproved: urban: 2.4% of population rural: 18% of population total: 9.3% of population (2017 est.) |
| HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate | NA |
| HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS | NA |
| HIV/AIDS - deaths | NA |
| Major infectious diseases | degree of risk: high (2020) food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever vectorborne diseases: Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, Japanese encephalitis soil contact diseases: hantaviral hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) note: a new coronavirus is causing an outbreak of respiratory illness (COVID-19) in China; illness with this virus has ranged from mild to severe with fatalities reported; the US Department of State has issued a do not travel advisory for China due to COVID-19; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has also recommended against travel to China and published additional guidance at https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices/warning/novel-coronavirus-china; the US Department of Homeland Security has issued instructions requiring US passengers who have been in China to travel through select airports where the US Government has implemented enhanced screening procedures; as of 19 July 2021, China has reported a total of 119,784 cases of COVID-19 or 8.14 cumulative cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 population with 0.38 cumulative deaths per 100,000 population; as of 10 June 2021, 43.21% of the population has received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine |
| Obesity - adult prevalence rate | 6.2% (2016) |
| Children under the age of 5 years underweight | 2.4% (2013) |
| Education expenditures | NA |
| Literacy | definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 96.8% male: 98.5% female: 95.2% (2018) |
| School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education) | total: 14 years male: 14 years female: 14 years (2015) |
| People - note | in October 2015, the Chinese Government announced that it would change its rules to allow all couples to have two children, loosening a 1979 mandate that restricted many couples to one child; the new policy was implemented on 1 January 2016 to address China’s rapidly aging population and future economic needs |
Source: CIA World Factbook
This page was last updated on September 18, 2021
