Demographics of China, Data of FAO, year 2005 ; Number of inhabitants in thousands.

Economic reforms have triggered internal migrations within China. Click on the image for more information.

Population pyramid for China

Population: 1,298,847,624 (July 2004 est.) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... FAO can mean: Food and Agriculture Organization Faro Airport (Portugal), IATA airport code For (The) Attention Of This page concerning a three-letter acronym or abbreviation is a disambiguation page—a list of articles associated with the same title. ... Download high resolution version (860x630, 149 KB)This map was based on results from retrospective questions in the 1990 census. ... Download high resolution version (860x630, 149 KB)This map was based on results from retrospective questions in the 1990 census. ... Economic reforms have triggered internal migrations within China. ... Image File history File links China_population_pyramid_2005. ... Image File history File links China_population_pyramid_2005. ... A population pyramid is two back-to-back bar graphs, one showing the number of males and one showing females in a particular population in five-year age groups. ...

Age structure:
0-14 years: 22.3% (male 153,401,051; female 135,812,993)
15-64 years: 70.3% (male 469,328,664; female 443,248,860)
65 years and over: 7.5% (male 46,308,923; female 50,747,133) (2005 est.)

Median age:
total: 31.8 years
male: 31.5 years
female: 32.2 years (2004 est.)

Population growth rate: 0.57% (2004 est.)

Birth rate: 12.98 births/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Death rate: 6.92 deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Net migration rate: -0.4 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.12 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.13 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.91 male(s)/female
total population: 1.06 male(s)/female (2004 est.)

Infant mortality rate:
total: 25.28 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 21.84 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 29.14 deaths/1,000 live births (2004 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 71.96 years
male: 70.4 years
female: 73.72 years (2004 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.69 children born/woman (2004 est.)

Population Policy

With a population of over 1.3 billion and an estimated growth rate of 0.57%, the PRC is very concerned about its population growth and has attempted with mixed results to implement a strict family planning policy. The government's goal is one child per family, with exceptions in rural areas and for ethnic minorities. Official stated government policy opposes forced abortion or sterilization, but allegations of coercion continue as local officials strive to meet population targets. The government's goal is to stabilize the population and population growth early in the 21st century, although some current projections estimate a population of anywhere ranging from 1.4 billion to 1.6 billion by 2025. The factual accuracy of this article is disputed. ...

Nationality:
noun: Chinese (singular and plural)
adjective: Chinese

Ethnic Groups

Main article: List of Chinese ethnic groups The Peoples Republic of China officially describes itself as a multinational unitary state and as such officially recognizes 56 nationalities or Mínzú (民族), within China: the Han being the majority (>92%), and the remaining 55 nationalities being the national minorities. ...

The People's Republic of China (PRC) officially recognizes 56 distinct ethnic groups, the largest of which are Han Chinese, who constitute about 91.9% of the total population. Large ethnic minorities include the Zhuang (16 million), Manchu (10 million), Hui (9 million), Miao (8 million), Uighur (7 million), Yi (7 million), Tujia (5.75 million), Mongolian (5 million), Tibetan (5 million), Buyi (3 million), and Korean (2 million). Han Chinese (Simplified Chinese: 汉族; Traditional Chinese: 漢族; Hanyu pinyin: ) is a term which refers to the majority ethnic group within China and the largest single human ethnic group in the world. ... The Zhuang (Simplified Chinese: 壮族; Traditional Chinese: 壯族; Hanyu Pinyin: ; own name: BouчcueÅ‹ÑŒ/Bouxcuengh) are an ethnic group of people who mostly live in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in southern China. ... The Manchu (Manchu: Manju; Simplified Chinese: 满族; Traditional Chinese: 滿族; Hanyu pinyin: ) are a Tungusic people who originated in Northeastern Asia, collectively known in English as Manchuria. ... The Hui (回) ethnic group is unrelated to the Hui (徽) dialects. ... The Hmong, also known as Miao (Chinese: 苗: Miáo; Vietnamese: Mẹo or Hmông; Thai: ม้ง (mong) or แม้ว (maew)), are an Asian ethnic group whose homeland is in the mountainous regions of southern China (especially Guizhou) that cross into northern Southeast Asia (northern Vietnam and Laos). ... Uyghurs (also called Uighurs, Uygurs, or Uigurs) (Chinese: 維吾爾 or 维吾尔 in pinyin: wéiwúěr) are a Turkic ethnic group of people living in northwestern China (mainly in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, where they are the dominant ethnic group together with Han people), Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. ... The Yi people (own name in the Cool Mountain dialect: ꆈꌠ, official transcription: Nuosu, IPA: [nɔ̄sÅ«]; Chinese: 彝族, Pinyin: Yìzú; the older name Lolo is now considered derogatory in China, though used officially in Vietnam as Lô Lô) are a modern ethnic group in China and Vietnam. ... The Tujia (土家族) are an ethnic group numbering about 8 million, living in the Wuling Mountains of Chinas Hunan and Hubei provinces. ... Tibet (older spelling Thibet; Tibetan: བོད་, Bod, pronounced pö in Lhasa dialect; Chinese: 西藏, pinyin: XÄ«zàng or 藏区 ZàngqÅ« [the two names are used with different connotations; see Name section below]) is a region in Central Asia and the home of the Tibetan people. ... The Buyi or Bouyei people (Self called: Puyi, Puzhong, Burao, Puman; Chinese: 布依族; pinyin: bùyī zú) are an ethnic group living in southern Peoples Republic of China. ...

Religion

Main article: Religion in China Temple incense in Taichung, Taiwan with Fu Dog behind. ...

The majority of Chinese are non-religious. According to the World Desk Reference by D K Publishing, the non-religious in China constitute about 59% of the population, or about 767 million people. However, religion plays a significant part in the life of some Chinese, especially the traditional beliefs of Confucianism and Taoism. About 33% of the population follow a mixture of beliefs usually referred to by statisticians as "Traditional Beliefs" or just "Other". Shrine of Confucius in Thian Hock Keng in Singapore. ... Taoism (sometimes written as Daoism) is the English name for: (a) a philosophical school based on the texts the Dao De Jing (ascribed to Laozi) and the Zhuangzi. ...

About 6% of Chinese people are avowed Buddhists. Mahayana Buddhism is most widely practiced. With an estimated 100 million adherents, it is the largest religiuous group in the country. Theravada Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism are practiced largely by ethnic minorities along the geographic fringes of the Chinese mainland. Official figures indicate there are 18 million (mostly Sunni) Muslims, 4 million Catholics, and 10 million Protestants; estimates by outside followers of these beliefs for all three demographic groups are much higher. Relief image of the bodhisattva Guan Yin from Mt. ... Theravada (Pali; Sanskrit: Sthaviravada) is one of the eighteen (or twenty) Nikāya schools that formed early in the history of Buddhism. ... Tibetan Buddhism — formerly also called Lamaism, after their religious gurus known as lamas — is the body of religious Buddhist doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and the Himalayan region. ... Sunni Islam (Arabic سنّة) is the largest denomination of Islam. ... Protestantism is a general grouping of denominations within Christianity. ...

The PRC Constitution affirms religious toleration subject to several important restrictions. Consistent with these restrictions, the PRC Government places restrictions on religious practice outside officially recognized organizations. Only two Christian organizations—a Catholic church without ties to Rome and the "Three-Self-Patriotic" Protestant church—are sanctioned by the PRC Government. Unauthorized churches have sprung up in many parts of the country, and unofficial religious practice is flourishing. In some regions authorities have tried to control activities of these unregistered churches. In other regions registered and unregistered groups are treated similarly by authorities, and congregates worship in both types of churches. The Three-Self Patriotic Movement (officially 中国基督教三自爱国运动委员会, China Christian Three-Self Patriotic Movement Committee; colloquially 三自教会, the Three-Self Church) and the China Christian Council (中国基督教协会) are two pro-government (patriotic) Christian organizations in the Peoples Republic of China. ...

In 1999, the PRC government banned the Falun Gong spiritual movement and has since implemented a crackdown on the movement. Reliable reports indicate that hundreds of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners are in re-education through labor camps; thousands are in prisons or psychiatric facilities. More than 2800 practitioners have reportedly died in prison as a result of mistreatment and torture (February 2006). Falun emblem. ...

For distribution of religions in minority nationalities, see List of Chinese ethnic groups. The Peoples Republic of China officially describes itself as a multinational unitary state and as such officially recognizes 56 nationalities or Mínzú (民族), within China: the Han being the majority (>92%), and the remaining 55 nationalities being the national minorities. ...

Language

Main articles: Chinese language, Languages of China Chinese (written) language (pinyin: zhōngw n) written in Chinese characters The Chinese language (汉语/漢語, 华语/華語, or 中文; Pinyin: H nyǔ, Hu yǔ, or Zhōngw n) is a member of the Sino-Tibetan family of languages. ... For treatment of the various forms of spoken Chinese, see Chinese spoken languages. ...

Standard Chinese or Mandarin (Putonghua, based on the Beijing dialect), Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghaiese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese), Xiang, Gan, Hakka dialects, minority languages (see Ethnic groups entry). Standard Mandarin refers to the official Chinese spoken language used by the Peoples Republic of China, the Republic of China on Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore. ... This article is on all of the Yue dialects. ... Hakka is one language in the family of languages known as Chinese. ...

There are seven major Chinese dialects and many sub dialects which are considered part of the Chinese language. Mandarin (or Putonghua), the predominant dialect, is spoken by over 70% of the population. It is taught in all schools and is the medium of government. About two-thirds of the Han ethnic group are native speakers of Mandarin; the rest, concentrated in southwest and southeast China, speak one of the six other major Chinese dialects. Non-Chinese languages spoken widely by ethnic minorities include Mongolian, Tibetan, Uygur and other Turkic languages (in Xinjiang), and Korean (in the northeast). Mandarin, or Guanhua (Traditional Chinese: 官話; Simplified Chinese: 官话; Hanyu Pinyin: ; literally official speech), or Beifanghua (Chinese: 北方方言; Hanyu Pinyin: ; literally Northern Dialect(s)) is a category of related Chinese dialects spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. ... Standard Mandarin refers to the official Chinese spoken language used by the Peoples Republic of China, the Republic of China on Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore. ...

The Pinyin System of Romanization

On January 1, 1979, the PRC Government officially adopted the hanyu pinyin system for spelling Chinese names and places in Roman letters. A system of Romanization invented by the Chinese, pinyin has long been widely used in mainland China on street and commercial signs as well as in elementary Chinese textbooks as an aid in learning Chinese characters. Variations of pinyin also are used as the written forms of several minority languages. Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: 汉语拼音; Traditional Chinese: 漢語拼音; Pinyin: , lit. ... In linguistics, romanization (or Latinization, also spelled romanisation or Latinisation) is the representation of a word or language with the Roman (Latin) alphabet, or a system for doing so, where the original word or language uses a different writing system. ... The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world. ...

Pinyin replaced other conventional spellings in People's Republic of China's English-language publications. The U.S. Government and United Nations also adopted the pinyin system for all names and places in China. For example, the capital of the PRC is spelled "Beijing" rather than "Peking." The United Nations (UN) is an international organization that describes itself as a global association of governments facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, and social equity. ... (help· info) (IPA pei˩ tɕɪŋ˦), a city in northern China, is the capital of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). ...

Literacy:

according to the official numbers:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write 1500 characters
total population: 90.9%
male: 95.1%
female: 86.5% (2002)

according to other studies that claim the official numbers are inflated and otherwise inaccurate:
50 %

References

Chinese Literacy

See also : People's Republic of China