Map of China | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
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Background:


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Location: Eastern Asia, bordering the East China Sea, Korea Bay, Yellow Sea, and South China Sea, between North Korea and Vietnam

Geographic coordinates: 35 00 N, 105 00 E

Map reference: Asia

Area
Total: 9,596,960 km²
Land: 9,326,410 km²
Water: 270,550 km²
Comparative: slightly smaller than the US

Land boundaries
Total: 22,457 km
Border countries: (14) Afghanistan 91 km; , Bhutan 477 km; , Burma 2,129 km; , India 2,659 km; , Kazakhstan 1765 km; , North Korea 1352 km; , Kyrgyzstan 1063 km; , Laos 475 km; , Mongolia 4,630 km; , Nepal 1389 km; , Pakistan 438 km; , Russia (northeast) 4,133 km; and Russia (northwest) 46 km; , Tajikistan 477 km; , Vietnam 1297 km

Coastline: 14,500 km

Maritime claims
Territorial sea: 12 nm
Contiguouszone: 24 nm
Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
Continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin

Climate: extremely diverse; tropical in south to subarctic in north

Terrain: mostly mountains, high plateaus, deserts in west; plains, deltas, and hills in east

Elevation
Highest point: Mount Everest (highest peak in Asia and highest point on earth above sea level) 8,849 m
Lowest point: Turpan Pendi -154 m
Mean elevation: 1,840 m

Natural resources: coal, iron ore, helium, petroleum, natural gas, arsenic, bismuth, cobalt, cadmium, ferrosilicon, gallium, germanium, hafnium, indium, lithium, mercury, tantalum, tellurium, tin, titanium, tungsten, antimony, manganese, magnesium, molybdenum, selenium, strontium, vanadium, magnetite, aluminum, lead, zinc, rare earth elements, uranium, hydropower potential (world's largest), arable land

Land use
Agricultural land: 54.7% (2018 est.)
Agricultural land arable land: 11.3% (2018 est.)
Agricultural land permanent crops: 1.6% (2018 est.)
Agricultural land permanent pasture: 41.8% (2018 est.)
Forest: 22.3% (2018 est.)
Other: 23% (2018 est.)

Irrigated land: 690,070 km² (2012)

Major rivers
By length in km: Yangtze - 6,300 km; Huang He - 5,464 km; Amur river source (shared with Mongolia and Russia [m]) - 4,444 km; Mekong river source (shared with Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam [m]) - 4,350 km; Brahmaputra river source (shared with India and Bangladesh [m]) - 3,969 km; Indus river source (shared with India and Pakistan [m]) - 3,610 km; Salween river source (shared with Thailand and Burma [m]) - 3,060 km; Irrawaddy river source (shared with Burma [m]) - 2,809 km; Pearl (shared with Vietnam [s]) - 2,200 km; Red river source (shared with Vietnam [m]) - 1,149 km


Major watersheds area km²: Pacific Ocean drainage: Amur (1,929,955 km²), Huang He (944,970 km²), Mekong (805,604 km²), Yangtze (1,722,193 km²)
Indian Ocean drainage: Brahmaputra (651,335 km²), Ganges (1,016,124 km²), Indus (1,081,718 km²), Irrawaddy (413,710 km²), Salween (271,914 km²)
Arctic Ocean drainage: Ob (2,972,493 km²)
Internal (endorheic basin) drainage: Tarim Basin (1,152,448 km²), Amu Darya (534,739 km²), Syr Darya (782,617 km²), Lake Balkash (510,015 km²)

Total water withdrawal
Municipal: 79.4 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)
Industrial: 133.5 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)
Agricultural: 385.2 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)

Total renewable water resources: 2,840,220,000,000 cubic meters (2017 est.)

Natural hazards: frequent typhoons (about five per year along southern and eastern coasts); damaging floods; tsunamis; earthquakes; droughts; land subsidence

Geography


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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: 1,397,897,720 (July 2021 est.)
Growth rate: 0.26% (2021 est.)
Below poverty line: 0.6% (2019 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 samples:

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

Demographic profile

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.)

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/1000 population (2021 est.)

Death rate: 8.26 deaths/1000 population (2021 est.)

Net migration rate: -0.43 migrant(s)/1000 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 urban areas
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)

Environment
Current issues: air pollution (greenhouse gases, sulfur dioxide particulates) from reliance on coal produces acid rain; China is the world's largest single emitter of carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels; water shortages, particularly in the north; water pollution from untreated wastes; coastal destruction due to land reclamation, industrial development, and aquaculture; deforestation and habitat destruction; poor land management leads to soil erosion, landslides, floods, droughts, dust storms, and desertification; trade in endangered species
International agreements party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protection, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping-London Convention, Marine Dumping-London Protocol, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 2006, Wetlands, Whaling
International agreements signed but not ratified: Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban

Air pollutants
Particulate matter emissions: 49.16 micrograms per cubic meter (2016 est.)
Carbon dioxide emissions: 9,893.04 megatons (2016 est.)
Methane emissions: 1,490.24 megatons (2020 est.)

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.)

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio: 29 deaths/100,000 live births (2017 est.)

Infant mortality rate
Total: 11.15 deaths/1000 live births
Male: 11.6 deaths/1000 live births
Female: 10.64 deaths/1000 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
Improved rural: 87.8% of population
Improved total: 92.8% of population
Unimproved urban: 2.3% of population
Unimproved rural: 12.2% of population
Unimproved total: 7.2% of population (2017 est.)

Current health expenditure: 5.4% (2018)

Physicians density: 1.98 physicians/1000 population (2017)

Hospital bed density: 4.3 beds/1000 population (2017)

Sanitation facility access
Improved urban: 97.1% of population
Improved rural: 82% of population
Improved total: 90.7% of population
Unimproved urban: 2.4% of population
Unimproved rural: 18% of population
Unimproved total: 9.3% of population (2017 est.)

Hiv/Aids
Adult prevalence rate: NA
People living with hivaids: NA
Deaths: NA

Major infectious diseases
Degree of risk: high (2020)
Food or water borne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
Vector borne diseases: Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, Japanese encephalitis
Soilcontactdiseases: hantaviral hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS)

Obesity adult prevalence rate: 6.2% (2016)

Alcohol consumption

Tobacco use

Children under the age of 5 years underweight: 2.4% (2013)

Education expenditures: 3.5% of GDP NA (2018)

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)

Youth unemployment


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Country name
Conventional long form: People's Republic of China
Conventional short form: China
Local long form: Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo
Local short form: Zhongguo
Abbreviation: PRC
Etymology: English name derives from the Qin (Chin) rulers of the 3rd century B.C., who comprised the first imperial dynasty of ancient China; the Chinese name Zhongguo translates as 'Central Nation' or 'Middle Kingdom'

Government type: communist party-led state

Capital
Name: Beijing
Geographic coordinates: 39 55 N, 116 23 E
Time difference: UTC+8 (13 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)
Timezone note: China is the largest country (in terms of area) with just one time zone; before 1949 it was divided into five
Etymology: the Chinese meaning is 'Northern Capital'

Administrative divisions: 23 provinces (sheng, singular and plural), 5 autonomous regions (zizhiqu, singular and plural), and 4 municipalities (shi, singular and plural)

Dependent areas

Independence: 1 October 1949 (People's Republic of China established); notable earlier dates: 221 B.C. (unification under the Qin Dynasty); 1 January 1912 (Qing Dynasty replaced by the Republic of China)

National holiday: National Day (anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China), 1 October (1949)

Constitution
History: several previous; latest promulgated 4 December 1982
Amendments: proposed by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress or supported by more than one fifth of the National People’s Congress membership; passage requires more than two-thirds majority vote of the Congress membership; amended several times, last in 2018

Legal system: civil law influenced by Soviet and continental European civil law systems; legislature retains power to interpret statutes; note - on 28 May 2020, the National People's Congress adopted the PRC Civil Code, which codifies personal relations and property relations

International law organization participation: has not submitted an ICJ jurisdiction declaration; non-party state to the ICCt

Citizenship
Citizenship by birth: no
Citizenship by descentonly: least one parent must be a citizen of China
Dual citizenship recognized: no
Residency requirement for naturalization: while naturalization is theoretically possible, in practical terms it is extremely difficult; residency is required but not specified

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch
Chief of state: President XI Jinping (since 14 March 2013); Vice President WANG Qishan (since 17 March 2018)
Head of government: Premier LI Keqiang (since 16 March 2013); Executive Vice Premiers HAN Zheng (since 19 March 2018), SUN Chunlan (since 19 March 2018), LIU He (since 19 March 2018), HU Chunhua (since 19 March 2018)
Cabinet: State Council appointed by National People's Congress
Elections and appointments: president and vice president indirectly elected by National People's Congress for a 5-year term (no term limits); election last held on 17 March 2018 (next to be held in March 2023); premier nominated by president, confirmed by National People's Congress
Election results: XI Jinping reelected president; National People's Congress vote - 2,970 (unanimously); WANG Qishan elected vice president with 2,969 votes

Legislative branch
Description: unicameral National People's Congress or Quanguo Renmin Daibiao Dahui (maximum of 3,000 seats; members indirectly elected by municipal, regional, and provincial people's congresses, and the People's Liberation Army; members serve 5-year terms); note - in practice, only members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), its 8 allied independent parties, and CCP-approved independent candidates are elected
Elections: last held in December 2017-February 2018 (next to be held in late 2022 to early 2023)
Election results: percent of vote - NA; seats by party - NA; composition - men 2,238, women 742, percent of women 24.9%

Judicial branch
Highest courts: Supreme People's Court (consists of over 340 judges, including the chief justice and 13 grand justices organized into a civil committee and tribunals for civil, economic, administrative, complaint and appeal, and communication and transportation cases)
Judge selection and term of office: chief justice appointed by the People's National Congress (NPC); limited to 2 consecutive 5-year-terms; other justices and judges nominated by the chief justice and appointed by the Standing Committee of the NPC; term of other justices and judges determined by the NPC
Subordinate courts: Higher People's Courts; Intermediate People's Courts; District and County People's Courts; Autonomous Region People's Courts; International Commercial Courts; Special People's Courts for military, maritime, transportation, and forestry issues

Political parties and leaders: Chinese Communist Party or CCP [XI Jinping]
Note: China has 8 nominally independent small parties controlled by the CCP

International organization participation: ADB, AfDB (nonregional member), APEC, Arctic Council (observer), ARF, ASEAN (dialogue partner), BIS, BRICS, CDB, CICA, EAS, FAO, FATF, G-20, G-24 (observer), G-5, G-77, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC (national committees), ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, LAIA (observer), MIGA, MINURSO, MINUSMA, MONUSCO, NAM (observer), NSG, OAS (observer), OPCW, Pacific Alliance (observer), PCA, PIF (partner), SAARC (observer), SCO, SICA (observer), UN, UNAMID, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNFICYP, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIFIL, UNMIL, UNMISS, UNOCI, UN Security Council (permanent), UNTSO, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, ZC

Diplomatic representation
In the us chief of mission: Ambassador QIN Gangas (since 29 July 2021)
In the us chancery: 3,505 International Place NW, Washington, DC 20,008
In the us telephone: [1] (202) 495-2,266
In the us FAX: [1] (202) 495-2,138
In the us email address and website:
From the us chief of mission: Ambassador (vacant); Chargé d’Affaires David MEALE (since July 2021)
From the us embassy: 55 An Jia Lou Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100,600
From the us mailing address: 7,300 Beijing Place, Washington DC  20,521-7,300
From the us telephone: [86] (10) 8,531-3,000
From the us FAX: [86] (10) 8,531-4,200
From the us email address and website:

Flag description: red with a large yellow five-pointed star and four smaller yellow five-pointed stars (arranged in a vertical arc toward the middle of the flag) in the upper hoist-side corner; the color red represents revolution, while the stars symbolize the four social classes - the working class, the peasantry, the urban petty bourgeoisie, and the national bourgeoisie (capitalists) - united under the Communist Party of China

National symbols: dragon, giant panda; national colors: red, yellow

National anthem
Name: 'Yiyongjun Jinxingqu' (The March of the Volunteers)
Lyrics and music: TIAN Han/NIE Er
Note: adopted 1949; the anthem, though banned during the Cultural Revolution, is more commonly known as 'Zhongguo Guoge' (Chinese National Song); it was originally the theme song to the 1935 Chinese movie, 'Sons and Daughters in a Time of Storm'

National heritage


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Economy overview

Real gdp purchasing power parity:
Note: data are in 2010 dollars

Real gdp growth rate: 6.14% (2019 est.)

6.75% (2018 est.)

6.92% (2017 est.)

Real gdp per capita:
Note: data are in 2010 dollars

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use
Household consumption: 39.1% (2017 est.)
Government consumption: 14.5% (2017 est.)
Investment in fixed capital: 42.7% (2017 est.)
Investment in inventories: 1.7% (2017 est.)
Exports of goods and services: 20.4% (2017 est.)
Imports of goods and services: -18.4% (2017 est.)

Gdp composition by sector of origin
Agriculture: 7.9% (2017 est.)
Industry: 40.5% (2017 est.)
Services: 51.6% (2017 est.)

Agriculture products: maize, rice, vegetables, wheat, sugar cane, potatoes, cucumbers, tomatoes, watermelons, sweet potatoes

Industries: world leader in gross value of industrial output; mining and ore processing, iron, steel, aluminum, and other metals, coal; machine building; armaments; textiles and apparel; petroleum; cement; chemicals; fertilizer; consumer products (including footwear, toys, and electronics); food processing; transportation equipment, including automobiles, railcars and locomotives, ships, aircraft; telecommunications equipment, commercial space launch vehicles, satellites

Industrial production growth rate: 6.1% (2017 est.)

Labor force: 774.71 million (2019 est.)
Note: by the end of 2012, China's working age population (15-64 years) was 1.004 billion
By occupation agriculture: 27.7%
By occupation industry: 28.8%
By occupation services: 43.5% (2016 est.)

Unemployment rate: 3.64% (2019 est.)
Note: data are for registered urban unemployment, which excludes private enterprises and migrants

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line: 0.6% (2019 est.)

Gini index
Coefficient distribution of family income: 38.5 (2016 est.)

46.2 (2015 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share
Lowest 10: 2.1%
Highest 10: 31.4% (2012)
Note: data are for urban households only

Distribution of family income gini index

Budget
Revenues: $2.553 trillion (2017 est.)
Expenditures: $3.008 trillion (2017 est.)
Surplus or deficit: $-3.8% (of GDP) (2017 est.)

Taxes and other revenues: 21.3% (of GDP) (2017 est.)

Public debt: 47% of GDP (2017 est.)
Note: official data; data cover both central and local government debt, including debt officially recognized by China's National Audit Office report in 2011; data exclude policy bank bonds, Ministry of Railway debt, and China Asset Management Company debt

Revenue
From forest resources forest revenues: 0.08% of GDP (2018 est.)
From coal coal revenues: 0.57% of GDP (2018 est.)

Fiscal year: calendar year

Inflation rate consumer prices: 2.8% (2019 est.)

2% (2018 est.)

1.5% (2017 est.)

Central bank discount rate

Commercial bank prime lending rate

Stock of narrow money

Stock of broad money

Stock of domestic credit

Market value of publicly traded shares

Current account balance: $141.335 billion (2019 est.)

$25.499 billion (2018 est.)

Exports: $2,732,370,000,000 note: data are in current year dollars (2020 est.)

$2.631 trillion note: data are in current year dollars (2019 est.)

$2,651,010,000,000 note: data are in current year dollars (2018 est.)
Partners: United States 17%, Hong Kong 10%, Japan 6% (2019)
Commodities: broadcasting equipment, computers, integrated circuits, office machinery and parts, telephones (2019)

Imports: $2,362,690,000,000 note: data are in current year dollars (2020 est.)

$2,499,150,000,000 note: data are in current year dollars (2019 est.)

$2,563,100,000,000 note: data are in current year dollars (2018 est.)
Partners: South Korea 9%, Japan 8%, Australia 7%, Germany 7%, US 7%, Taiwan 6% (2019)
Commodities: crude petroleum, integrated circuits, iron, natural gas, cars, gold (2019)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $3.236 trillion (31 December 2017 est.)

$3.098 trillion (31 December 2016 est.)

Debt external: $2,027,950,000,000 (2019 est.)

$1,935,206,000,000 (2018 est.)

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates:


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Electricity
Access electrification total population: 100% (2020)
Production: 5.883 trillion kWh (2016 est.)
Consumption: 5.564 trillion kWh (2016 est.)
Exports: $18.91 billion kWh (2016 est.)
Imports: 6.185 billion kWh (2016 est.)
Installed generating capacity: 1.653 billion kW (2016 est.)
Generation sources fossil fuels: 62% of total installed capacity (2016 est.)
Generation sources nuclear: 2% of total installed capacity (2017 est.)
Generation sources hydroelectricity: 18% of total installed capacity (2017 est.)
Generation sources other renewable sources: 18% of total installed capacity (2017 est.)

Coal

Petroleum
Petroleum total petroleum production: 3.773 million bbl/day (2018 est.)
Crude oil exports: 57,310 bbl/day (2015 est.)
Crude oil imports: 6.71 million bbl/day (2015 est.)
Crude oil proven reserves: 25.63 billion bbl (1 January 2018 est.)

Crude oil

Refined petroleum
Products production: 11.51 million bbl/day (2015 est.)
Products consumption: 12.47 million bbl/day (2016 est.)
Products exports: 848,400 bbl/day (2015 est.)
Products imports: 1.16 million bbl/day (2015 est.)

Natural gas
Production: 145.9 billion m³ (2017 est.)
Consumption: 238.6 billion m³ (2017 est.)
Exports: $3.37 billion m³ (2017 est.)
Imports: 97.63 billion m³ (2017 est.)
Proven reserves: 5.44 trillion m³ (1 January 2018 est.)

Carbon dioxide emissions

Energy consumption per capita


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Telephones
Fixed lines total subscriptions: 181.908 million (2020)
Fixed lines subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 12.64 (2020 est.)
Mobile cellular total subscriptions: 1,696,356,000 (2020)
Mobile cellular subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 117.9 (2020 est.)

Telephone system

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 sends directives to all domestic media outlets to guide its reporting with the government maintaining authority to approve all programming; foreign-made TV programs must be approved prior to broadcast; increasingly, Chinese turn to online and satellite television to access Chinese and international films and television shows (2019)

Internet
Country code: .cn
Users total: 939.8 million (2021 est.)
Users percent of population: 70.64% (2020 est.)

Broadband fixed subscriptions
Total: 483.55 million (2020)
Subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 33.6 (2020 est.)


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Military expenditures: 1.7% of GDP (2020 est.)

1.7% of GDP (2019)

1.9% of GDP (2018)

1.9% of GDP (2017)

1.9% of GDP (2016)

Military and security forces:

Military service age and obligation: 18-22 years of age for selective compulsory military service, with a 2-year service obligation; no minimum age for voluntary service (all officers are volunteers); 18-19 years of age for women high school graduates who meet requirements for specific military jobs (2021)

Space program

Terrorist groups


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National air transport system
Number of registered air carriers: 56 (2020)
Inventory of registered aircraft operated by air carriers: 2,890
Annual passenger traffic on registered air carriers: 436,183,969 (2018)
Annual freight traffic on registered air carriers: 611,439,830 mt-km (2018)

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix: B

Airports
Total: 507 (2013)
With paved runways total: 510
With paved runways over 3047 m: 87
With paved runways 2438 to 3047 m: 187
With paved runways 15-24 to 2437 m: 109
With paved runways 914 to 1523 m: 43
With paved runways under 914 m: 84 (2019)
With unpaved runways total: 23
With unpaved runways over 3047 m: 2
With unpaved runways 2438 to 3047 m: 0
With unpaved runways 15-24 to 2437 m: 1
With unpaved runways 914 to 1523 m: 7
With unpaved runways under 914 m: 13 (2013)

Heliports: 39 (2019)

Pipelines: 76,000 km gas, 30,400 km crude oil, 27,700 km refined petroleum products, 797,000 km water (2018)

Railways
Total: 131,000 km 1.435-m gauge (80,000 km electrified); 102,000 traditional, 29,000 high-speed (2018)

Roadways
Total: 4,960,600 km (2017)
Paved: 4,338,600 km (includes 136,500 km of expressways) (2017)
Unpaved: 622,000 km (2017)

Waterways: 110,000 km (navigable waterways) (2011)

Merchant marine
Total: 6,662
By type: bulk carrier 1,558, container ship 341, general cargo 957, oil tanker 1,061, other 2,745 (2021)

Ports and terminals
Major seaport: Dalian, Ningbo, Qingdao, Qinhuangdao, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Tianjin
Container ports teus: Dalian (8,760,000), Guangzhou (23,236,200), Ningbo (27,530,000), Qingdao (21,010,000), Shanghai (43,303,000), Shenzhen (25,770,000), Tianjin (17,264,000) (2019)
Lng terminals import: Fujian, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shandong, Shanghai, Tangshan, Zhejiang
River ports: Guangzhou (Pearl)


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Disputes international: China and India continue their security and foreign policy dialogue started in 2005 related to a number of boundary disputes across the 2,000 mile shared border; India does not recognize Pakistan's 1964 ceding to China of the Aksai Chin, a territory designated as part of the princely state of Kashmir by the British Survey of India in 1865; China claims most of the Indian state Arunachal Pradesh to the base of the Himalayas, but the US recognizes the state of Arunachal Pradesh as Indian territory; Bhutan and China continue negotiations to establish a common boundary alignment to resolve territorial disputes arising from substantial cartographic discrepancies, the most contentious of which lie in Bhutan's west along China's Chumbi salient; Chinese maps show an international boundary symbol (the so-called “nine-dash line”) off the coasts of the littoral states of the South China Sea, where China has interrupted Vietnamese hydrocarbon exploration; China asserts sovereignty over Scarborough Reef along with the Philippines and Taiwan, and over the Spratly Islands together with Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Brunei; the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea eased tensions in the Spratlys, and in 2017 China and ASEAN began confidential negotiations for an updated Code of Conduct for the South China Sea designed not to settle territorial disputes but establish rules and norms in the region; this still is not the legally binding code of conduct sought by some parties; Vietnam and China continue to expand construction of facilities in the Spratlys and in early 2018 China began deploying advanced military systems to disputed Spratly outposts; China occupies some of the Paracel Islands also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan; the Japanese-administered Senkaku Islands are also claimed by China and Taiwan; certain islands in the Yalu and Tumen Rivers are in dispute with North Korea; North Korea and China seek to stem illegal migration to China by North Koreans, fleeing privation and oppression; China and Russia have demarcated the once disputed islands at the Amur and Ussuri confluence and in the Argun River in accordance with their 2004 Agreement; China and Tajikistan have begun demarcating the revised boundary agreed to in the delimitation of 2002; the decade-long demarcation of the China-Vietnam land boundary was completed in 2009; citing environmental, cultural, and social concerns, China has reconsidered construction of 13 dams on the Salween River, but energy-starved Burma, with backing from Thailand, continues to consider building five hydro-electric dams downstream despite regional and international protests

Refugees and internally displaced persons
Refugees country of origin: 303,095 (Vietnam), undetermined (North Korea) (2020)
IDPs: undetermined (2021)

Illicit drugs: a major source of precursor chemicals, new psychoactive substances (NPS), and synthetic drugs, including fentanyl precursors and methamphetamine;  PRC criminal organizations and organizations from Mexico and Southeast Asia traffic illicit drugs within the PRC as well as to international markets; significant illicit drug consumption of methamphetamine and ketamine; a major destination and transit country for heroin produced in neighboring countries; the PRC remains a major source of NPS sold in North America and Europe