Population

According to the recent census, China’s entire population was estimated to be 1.3 billion .which is more than 20 percent of the world's total, so china is the most populous country in the world.

Population is a crucial matter for the social and economical development in China.Keeping its population under control is of great signficance for the improvement of the people's living standards.Thus,family planning is held as a basic national policy.

China's birth rate dropped from 34.11 per thousand in 1969 to 15.23 per thousand at the end of 1999; and the natural growth rate decreased from 26.08 per thousand to 8.77 per thousand, thus basically realizing a change in the population reproduction type to one characterized by low-birth, low-death and low-increase rates.

Population:

1,321,851,888 (July 2007 est.) 

Age structure:

0-14 years: 20.4% (male 143,527,634/female 126,607,344)

15-64 years: 71.7% (male 487,079,770/female 460,596,384)

65 years and over: 7.9% (male 49,683,856/female 54,356,900) (2007 est.) 

Median age:

total: 33.2 years

male: 32.7 years

female: 33.7 years (2007 est.) 

Population growth rate:

0.606% (2007 est.) 

Birth rate:

13.45 births/1,000 population (2007 est.) 

Death rate:

7 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.) 

Net migration rate:

-0.39 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.) 

Sex ratio:

at birth: 1.11 male(s)/female

under 15 years: 1.134 male(s)/female

15-64 years: 1.057 male(s)/female

65 years and over: 0.914 male(s)/female

total population: 1.06 male(s)/female (2007 est.) 

Infant mortality rate:

total: 22.12 deaths/1,000 live births

male: 20.01 deaths/1,000 live births

female: 24.47 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:

total population: 72.88 years

male: 71.13 years

female: 74.82 years (2007 est.) 

Total fertility rate:

1.75 children born/woman (2007 est.) 

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 0.1% (2003 est.) 

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 840,000 (2003 est.) 

HIV/AIDS - deaths: 44,000 (2003 est.) 

Nationality:

noun: Chinese (singular and plural)

adjective: Chinese 

Ethnic groups:

Han Chinese 91.9%, Zhuang, Uygur, Hui, Yi, Tibetan, Miao, Manchu, Mongol, Buyi, Korean, and other nationalities 8.1% 

Religions:

Daoist (Taoist), Buddhist, Christian 3%-4%, Muslim 1%-2%

note: officially atheist (2002 est.) 

Languages:

Standard Chinese or Mandarin (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) 

Literacy:

definition: age 15 and over can read and write

total population: 90.9%

male: 95.1%

female: 86.5% (2000 census)