Infrastructure — China
Transport, communications, and energy.
Profile updated 2026-06-02
⚡ Infrastructure at a glance
Transport, communications, and energy. Key figure for China: 507
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Transportation
- Airports - total
507
- Airports with Paved Runways
463
- Heliports
47
- Railways
53,438 Miles 86,000 Kilometers
- Roadways- total
2,551,590 Miles 4,106,387 Kilometers
- Roadways- paved
2,146,147 Miles 3,453,890 Kilometers
- Waterways
68,351 Miles 110,000 Kilometers
- Ports and Terminals
Dalian, Guangzhou, Ningbo, Qingdao, Qinhuangdao, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Tianjin
Communications
- Telephones
285,115,000
- Cell Phones
986,253,000
- Internet Users
389,000,000
- Internet Country Code
.cn
- Internet Hosts
20,602,000
- Broadcast Media
- All broadcast media are owned by, or affiliated with, the Communist Party of China or a government agency
- no privately owned TV or radio stations
- state-run Chinese Central TV, provincial, and municipal stations offer more than 2,000 channels
- the Central Propaganda Department lists subjects that are off limits to domestic broadcast media with the government maintaining authority to approve all programming
- foreign-made TV programs must be approved prior to broadcast
- Telephone System
- General Assessment: domestic and international services are increasingly available for private use; unevenly distributed domestic system serves principal cities, industrial centers, and many towns; China continues to develop its telecommunications infrastructure; China in the summer of 2008 began a major restructuring of its telecommunications industry, resulting in the consolidation of its six telecom service operators to three, China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom,
- each providing both fixed-line and mobile services Domestic: interprovincial fiber-optic trunk lines and cellular telephone systems have been installed; mobile-cellular subscribership is increasing rapidly; the number of Internet users exceeded 564 million by the end of 2012; a domestic satellite
- system with several earth stations is in place International: country code - 86; a number of submarine cables provide connectivity to Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and the US; satellite earth stations - 7 (5 Intelsat - 4 Pacific Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean; 1 Intersputnik - Indian Ocean region; and 1 Inmarsat - Pacific and Indian Ocean regions)
Energy
- Electricity Consumption- Kilowatt Hours (kWh)
4,693,000,000,000
- Electricity Exports- Kilowatt Hours (kWh)
17,650,000,000
- Electricity Imports- Kilowatt Hours (kWh)
6,874,000,000
- Electricity Production- Kilowatt Hours (kWh)
4,940,000,000,000
- Natural Gas Consumption - Kilowatt Hours (kWh)
150,000,000,000
- Natural Gas Exports- Cubic Meters (cu m)
2,400,000,000
- Natural Gas Imports- Cubic Meters (cu m)
53,000,000,000
- Natural Gas Production- Cubic Meters (cu m)
117,100,000,000
- Natural Gas Reserves- Cubic Meters (cu m)
3,100,000,000,000
- Oil Consumption- Barrels Per Day (bbl/day)
9,790,000
- Oil Exports- Barrels Per Day (bbl/day)
33,000
- Oil Imports- Barrels Per Day (bbl/day)
5,664,000
- Oil Production- Barrels Per Day (bbl/day)
4,150,000
- Oil Reserves- Barrels Per Day (bbl/day)
17,300,000,000