China: People

Population: 1,298,847,624 (July 2004 est.)

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) (2004 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.)

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, Muslim 1%-2%, Christian 3%-4%
Note: officially atheist (2002 est.)

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)

Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write