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| GEOGRAPHIC AND DEMOGRAPHIC DATA |
| Location |
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Eastern Asia, bordering the East China Sea, Korea Bay, Yellow Sea, and South China Sea, between North Korea and Vietnam |
| Area |
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total: 9,596,960 sq km
land: 9,326,410 sq km
water: 270,550 sq km |
| Border countries |
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Afghanistan 76 km, Bhutan 470 km, Burma 2,185 km, Hong Kong 30 km, India 3,380 km, Kazakhstan 1,533 km, North Korea 1,416 km, Kyrgyzstan 858 km, Laos 423 km, Macau 0.34 km, Mongolia 4,677 km, Nepal 1,236 km, Pakistan 523 km, Russia (northeast) 3,605 km, Russia (northwest) 40 km, Tajikistan 414 km, Vietnam 1,281 km |
| Climate |
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extremely diverse; tropical in south to subarctic in north |
| Terrain |
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mostly mountains, high plateaus, deserts in west; plains, deltas, and hills in east |
| Natural resources |
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coal, iron ore, petroleum, natural gas, mercury, tin, tungsten, antimony, manganese, molybdenum, vanadium, magnetite, aluminum, lead, zinc, uranium, hydropower potential (world's largest) |
| PEOPLE |
| Population |
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1,284,303,705 (July 2002 est.) |
| Age structure |
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0-14 years: 24.3% (male 163,821,081; female 148,855,387) |
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15-64 years: 68.4% (male 452,354,428; female 426,055,713) |
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65 years and over: 7.3% (male 43,834,528; female 49,382,568) (2002 est.) |
| Population growth rate |
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0.87% (2002 est.) |
| Birth rate |
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15.85 births/1,000 population (2002 est.) |
| Death rate |
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6.77 deaths/1,000 population (2002 est.) |
| Net migration rate |
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-0.38 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002 est.) |
| Sex ratio |
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at birth: 1.09 male(s)/female |
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under 15 years: 1.1 male(s)/female |
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15-64 years: 1.06 male(s)/female |
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65 years and over: 0.89 male(s)/female |
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total population: 1.06 male(s)/female (2002 est.) |
| Infant mortality rate |
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27.25 deaths/1,000 live births (2002 est.) |
| Life expectancy at birth |
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total population: 71.86 years |
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female: 73.86 years (2002 est.) |
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male: 70.02 years |
| Ethnic groups |
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Han Chinese 91.9%, Zhuang, Uygur, Hui, Yi, Tibetan, Miao, Manchu, Mongol, Buyi, Korean, and other nationalities 8.1% |
| Religions |
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Daoist (Taoist), Buddhist, Muslim 1%-2%, Christian 3%-4%
note: officially atheist (2002 est.) |
| Languages |
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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) |
| Literacy |
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definition: age 15 and over can read and write |
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male: 89.9% |
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female: 72.7% (1995 est.) |
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total population: 81.5% |
| GOVERNMENT |
| Capital |
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Beijing |
| Chief of state |
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President JIANG Zemin (since 27 March 1993) and Vice President HU Jintao (since 16 March 1998) |
| Head of State |
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Premier ZHU Rongji (since 18 March 1998); Vice Premiers QIAN Qichen (since 29 March 1993), LI Lanqing (29 March 1993), WU Bangguo (since 17 March 1995), and WEN Jiabao (since 18 March 1998) |
| Cabinet |
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State Council appointed by the National People's Congress (NPC) |
| Legislative branch |
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unicameral National People's Congress or Quanguo Renmin Daibiao Dahui (2,979 seats; members elected by municipal, regional, and provincial people's congresses to serve five-year terms) |
| Judicial branch |
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Supreme People's Court (judges appointed by the National People's Congress); Local Peoples Courts (comprise higher, intermediate and local courts); Special Peoples Courts (primarily military, maritime, and railway transport courts) |
| ECONOMY |
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The Chinese economy was decentralized in 1978 and major economic reforms were introduced which created conditions for rapid economic growth and structural changes in China. The development has been so impressive that, China has set the target for average annual growth rate in the tenth Five Year Plan period (2001-2005) at around 7 percent. It is lower than the actual yearly growth between 1996-2000 at 8.3%.
In 1980, China's share in world trade was less than one percent, and it started permitting foreign direct investment (FDI). However, over the last 20 years China has grown to become the world's second largest economy after US. The high growth rate of China is attributed to high levels of trade and greater investment effort. Strong exports growth from China has helped push China's economy to 7.3% growth rate in 2000-2001. China is the world's second largest recipient for FDI. Inflow of foreign direct investment and growth in Special Economic Zones (SEZ) has also helped China increase its productivity.
The deficit in the Chinese economy has also grown steadily from 0.8% of GDP in 1996 to 2.5% (estimated) of GDP in 2000. Increasing budget deficit poses a serious problem for Chinese economy. Two major areas with accumulated deficit are (a) NPAs of the state-owned banks and (b) social security system. |
| GDP |
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purchasing power parity - $5.56 trillion (2001 est.) |
GDP
real growth rate |
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7% (official estimate) (2001 est.) |
| GDP- per capita: |
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purchasing power parity - $4,300 (2001 est.) |
| GDP - composition by sector: |
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agriculture: 18%
industry: 49%
services: 33% (2001 est.) |
| Population below poverty line |
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10% (2001 est.) |
| Household income or consumption by percentage share |
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lowest 10%: 2%
highest 10%: 30% (1998) |
| Inflation rate (consumer prices) |
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1% (2001 est.) |
| Labor force - by occupation |
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agriculture 50%, industry 23%, services 27% (2001 est.) |
| Unemployment rate |
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urban unemployment roughly 10%; substantial unemployment and underemployment in rural areas (2001 est.) |
| Budget |
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revenues: $161.8 billion
expenditures: $191.8 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (2000) |
| Industries |
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iron and steel, coal, machine building, armaments, textiles and apparel, petroleum, cement, chemical fertilizers, footwear, toys, food processing, automobiles, consumer electronics, telecommunications |
| Agriculture - products |
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rice, wheat, potatoes, sorghum, peanuts, tea, millet, barley, cotton, oilseed; pork; fish |
| FOREIGN TRADE |
| Exports |
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$262.1 billion (f.o.b.) |
| Exports - commodities |
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machinery and equipment; textiles and clothing, footwear, toys and sporting goods; mineral fuels |
| Exports - partners |
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US 21%, Hong Kong 18%, Japan 17%, South Korea, Germany, Netherlands, UK, Singapore, Taiwan (2000) |
| Imports |
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$236.2 billion (f.o.b.) |
| Imports - commodities |
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machinery and equipment, mineral fuels, plastics, iron and steel, chemicals |
| Imports - partners |
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Japan 18%, Taiwan 11%, South Korea 10%, US 10% Germany, Hong Kong, Russia, Malaysia (2000) |
| Debt - external |
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$167 billion (2001 est.) |
| Currency |
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yuan per US dollar - 8.2767 (January 2002), 8.2771 (2001), 8.2785 (2000), 8.2783 (1999), 8.2790 (1998), 8.2898 (1997) |
| Exchange rates |
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yuan per US dollar - 8.2767 (January 2002), 8.2771 (2001), 8.2785 (2000), 8.2783 (1999), 8.2790 (1998), 8.2898 (1997) |
| Fiscal year |
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calendar year |
| COMMUNICATION |
| Telephones |
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135 million (2000) |
| Telephone system |
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general assessment: domestic and international services are increasingly available for private use; unevenly distributed domestic system serves principal cities, industrial centers, and many towns |
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domestic: interprovincial fiber-optic trunk lines and cellular telephone systems have been installed; a domestic satellite system with 55 earth stations is in place |
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international: satellite earth stations - 5 Intelsat (4 Pacific Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean), 1 Intersputnik (Indian Ocean region) and 1 Inmarsat (Pacific and Indian Ocean regions); several international fiber-optic links to Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Russia, and Germany (2000) |
| TRANSPORTATION |
| Railways |
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total: 67,524 km (including 5,400 km of provincial "local" rails)
standard gauge: 63,924 km 1.435-m gauge (13,362 km electrified; 20,250 km double-track)
narrow gauge: 3,600 km 0.750-m and 1.000-m gauge local industrial lines (1999 est.) |
| Highways |
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total: 1.4 million km
paved: 271,300 km (with at least 16,000 km of expressways)
unpaved: 1,128,700 km (1999) |
| Waterways |
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110,000 km (1999) |
| Pipelines |
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natural gas 180 km
note: product pipelines from Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan have been in disrepair and disuse for years (2002) |
| Ports and harbors |
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crude oil 9,070 km; petroleum products 560 km; natural gas 9,383 km (1998) |
| Airports |
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489 (2001) |
| Airports - with paved runways |
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total: 324
over 3,047 m: 27
2,438 to 3,047 m: 88
1,524 to 2,437 m: 147
914 to 1,523 m: 30
under 914 m: 32 (2001) |
| Airports - with unpaved runways |
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total: 165
over 3,047 m: 1
2,438 to 3,047 m: 1
1,524 to 2,437 m: 29
914 to 1,523 m: 56
under 914 m: 78 (2001) |
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