Demographics of China
| Demographics of China | |
|---|---|
Population pyramid of China in November 2020 | |
| Population | 1,408,280,000 (31 December 2024) |
| Growth rate | −0.15% (2023 est.) (159th) |
| Birth rate | 6.77 births per 1,000 (2024 est.) |
| Death rate | 7.87 deaths per 1,000 (2023 est.) |
| Life expectancy | 78.6 years (2022) |
| • male | 76.0 years (2022) |
| • female | 81.3 years (2022) |
| Fertility rate | 1.15 children per woman (2024 est.) |
| Infant mortality rate | 6.76 deaths per 1000 live births (2022) |
| Age structure | |
| 0–14 years | 16.48% (male 124,166,174/female 108,729,429) |
| 15–64 years | 69.4% (male 504,637,819/female 476,146,909) |
| 65 and over | 14.11% (male 92,426,805/female 107,035,710) (2023 est.) |
| Sex ratio | |
| At birth | 1.11 male to female (2020 est.) |
| 65 and over | 0.90 male to female (2020 est.) |
| Nationality | |
| Major ethnic | Han Chinese (91.11%) |
| Minor ethnic | |
| Language | |
| Official | Standard Chinese |
| Spoken | Various; See Languages of China |
The People's Republic of China is the second most-populous country in the world with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, only surpassed by India. Historically, China has always been one of the nation-states with the most population.
China has an enormous population with a relatively small youth component, partially a result of China's one-child policy that was implemented from 1979 until 2015, which limited urban families to one offspring and rural families to two. As of 2022, Chinese state media reported the country's total fertility rate to be 1.09.
China was the world's most populous country from at least 1950 until being surpassed by India in 2023.
By one estimate, in 2024 China's population stood at about 1.408 billion, down from the 1.412 billion recorded in the 2020 census. According to the 2020 census, 91.11% of the population was Han Chinese, and 8.89% were minorities. China's population growth rate is -0.10%. China conducted its sixth national population census in 2010, and its seventh census was completed in late 2020, with data released in May 2021.
China faces the challenge of an aging population due to increased life expectancy and declining birth rates. This demographic shift has implications for social services and the labor force.