Demographics & population — China
Population size, age structure, migration, ethnicity, language, education, and health indicators.
Profile updated 2026-06-02
⚡ Demographics & population at a glance
Population size, age structure, migration, ethnicity, language, education, and health indicators. Key figure for China: 1,416,043,270
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Population overview
- Population
1,416,043,270
- Population Growth Rate
0.23%
- 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
- Urban Population
- urban population: 64.6%
- of total population rate of urbanization: 1.78%
- annual rate of change note: data do not include Hong Kong and Macau
- Population in Major Urban Areas
29.211 million Shanghai, 21.766 million BEIJING (capital), 17.341 million Chongqing, 14.284 million Guangzhou, 14.239 million Tianjin, 13.073 million Shenzhen
- Population: Male/Female
- male: 722,201,504
- female: 693,841,766
Age & family
- Age Structure
- years: 16.3% (male 122,644,111/female 107,926,176) 15-64
- years: 69.3% (male 505,412,555/female 476,599,793) 65
- years and over: 14.4% (male 94,144,838/female 109,315,797)
- Median Age
- total: 40.2
- years male: 39
- years female: 41.5 years
- Birth Rate - births/1,000 population
10
- Death Rate - deaths/1,000 population
7.7
- Total Fertility Rate - children born/woman
1.55
- Gross reproduction rate
1
- Child Marriage
- women married by age 15: 0.1%
- women married by age 18: 2.8%
- men married by age 18: 0.7%
- Contraceptive Prevalance Rate - female 12-49
84.5%
- Contraceptive Prevalence Rate - female 12-49
84.5%
- Currently married women (ages 15-49)
75.9%
- Sex Ratio at Birth - male/female
- at birth: 1.09
- male(s)/female 0-14 years: 1.14
- male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.06
- male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.86
- male(s)/female total population: 1.04 male(s)/female
Migration
- Net Migration Rate - migrant(s)/1,000 population
-0.1
Ethnicity & language
- Ethnic Groups
Han Chinese 91.1%, ethnic minorities 8.9% (includes Zhang, Hui, Manchu, Uighur, Miao, Yi, Tujia, Tibetan, Mongol, Dong, Buyei, Yao, Bai, Korean, Hani, Li, Kazakh, Dai, and other nationalities)
- Language Note
- 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, Uyghur is official in Xinjiang Uygur, Kyrgyz is official in Xinjiang Uyghur, and Tibetan is official in Xizang (Tibet)
- Nationality Noun
- Chinese (singular and plural) adjective: Chinese
Education
- Literacy - total population
96.8%
- Literacy - male
98.5%
- Literacy - female
95.2%
- Literacy Definition
age 15 and over can read and write
- Education Expenditures - percent of GDP
3.6%
- Total School Life Expectancy - (primary to tertiary)
- total: 14
- years male: 14
- years female: 14 years
Health & living conditions
- Life Expectancy at Birth
- total population: 78.7
- years male: 76
- years female: 81.7 years
- Infant Mortality Rate
- total: 6.2 deaths/1,000
- live births male: 6.7 deaths/1,000
- live births female: 5.7 deaths/1,000 live births
- Infant Mortality Rate - total deaths/1,000 live births
- total: 6.2 deaths/1,000
- live births male: 6.7 deaths/1,000
- live births female: 5.7 deaths/1,000 live births
- Maternal Mortality Rate - deaths/100,000 live births
23
- Physicians Density - physicians/1,000 population
2.23
- Hospital Bed Density - beds/1,000 population
4.3
- Health Expenditures - percent of GDP
5.6%
- Major Infectious Diseases - degree of risk
- high food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A,
- and typhoid fever vectorborne diseases: Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, dengue fever, Japanese encephalitis, severe
- fever thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) soil contact diseases: hantaviral hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS)
- Obesity - adult prevalence rate
6.2%
- Tobacco Use
- total: 25.6%
- male: 49.4%
- female: 1.7%
- Alcohol consumption per capita
- total: 4.48
- liters of pure alcohol beer: 1.66
- liters of pure alcohol wine: 0.18
- liters of pure alcohol spirits: 2.63
- liters of pure alcohol other alcohols: 0 liters of pure alcohol
- Drinking Water Source - percent of urban population improved
- urban: 97.3%
- of population rural: 91.5%
- of population total: 95.1%
- urban: 2.7%
- of population rural: 8.5%
- of population total: 4.9% of population
- Sanitation Facility Access - percent of urban population improved
- urban: 97.6%
- of population rural: 90.6%
- of population total: 94.9%
- urban: 2.4%
- of population rural: 9.4%
- of population total: 5.1% of population
- Underweight - percent of children under five years
2.4%