Polity · 1950 CE – present
People's Republic of China
中华人民共和国 · Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo · Zhongguo
Also recorded as China, PRC
- Peak recorded area
- 9,399,800 km²
- 2000 CE
- Rulers on record
- 19
- from 1949 CE
- Data series
- 612
- 1950 CE–2025 CE
Overview
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the second-most populous country after India, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, representing 17% of the world's population. China borders fourteen countries by land across an area of 9.6 million square kilometers (3,700,000 sq mi), making it the third-largest country by area.
Lead section from Wikipedia, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article.
Territory
9 dated territorial extents on record from Cliopatria. Areas are measured off the recorded polygons; the line steps because each extent holds until the next one is recorded — nothing is interpolated. CShapes 2.0 holds 1 further extent, measured on a different basis and deliberately not merged into this series.
The record
The best-attested series in each category; where several projects publish the same quantity, the one with the most observations is shown. Each row is the most recent value the record holds at or before the last complete year, shown with the year that value belongs to. Some statistical series also publish forward projections — the year column is the honest guide. Nothing on this page is interpolated or estimated by us.
People
6 of 110 series| Series | Value · year · source |
|---|---|
| Population153 obs · 1950 CE–2025 CE | 1.4Bpersons2025 CE · UN World Population Prospects 2024 |
| Life Expectancy141 obs · 1950 CE–2025 CE | 78.37years2025 CE · UN World Population Prospects 2024 |
| Net Migration141 obs · 1950 CE–2025 CE | -268.1Kpersons2025 CE · UN World Population Prospects 2024 |
| Population Growth141 obs · 1950 CE–2025 CE | -0.231% annual2025 CE · UN World Population Prospects 2024 |
| Life Expectancy Female140 obs · 1950 CE–2025 CE | 81.25years2025 CE · UN World Population Prospects 2024 |
| Life Expectancy Male140 obs · 1950 CE–2025 CE | 75.65years2025 CE · UN World Population Prospects 2024 |
Economy
6 of 171 series| Series | Value · year · source |
|---|---|
| GDP Current Usd112 obs · 1960 CE–2025 CE | 19Tcurrent US$2025 CE · World Bank World Development Indicators |
| GDP per capita73 obs · 1950 CE–2022 CE | 19.2K2011 int'l $2022 CE · Maddison Project Database 2023 |
| GDP per capita PPP70 obs · 1950 CE–2019 CE | 16.7Kint'l $ (inflation adj.)2019 CE · Gapminder |
| Agriculture % GDP66 obs · 1960 CE–2025 CE | 6.66% of GDP2025 CE · World Bank World Development Indicators |
| Industry % GDP66 obs · 1960 CE–2025 CE | 35.64% of GDP2025 CE · World Bank World Development Indicators |
| Services % GDP66 obs · 1960 CE–2025 CE | 57.7% of GDP2025 CE · World Bank World Development Indicators |
Military
6 of 85 series| Series | Value · year · source |
|---|---|
| Nuclear Warhead Stockpile75 obs · 1950 CE–2024 CE | 500count2024 CE · FAS Nuclear Notebook (via OWID) |
| CINC Score67 obs · 1950 CE–2016 CE | 0.2306CINC (share of world capability)2016 CE · Correlates of War NMC v6.0 |
| Energy Consumption67 obs · 1950 CE–2016 CE | 5.7Bcoal-ton equivalents2016 CE · Correlates of War NMC v6.0 |
| Iron Steel Production67 obs · 1950 CE–2016 CE | 807.6Mtons2016 CE · Correlates of War NMC v6.0 |
| Military Expenditure67 obs · 1950 CE–2016 CE | 145Bcurrent USD2016 CE · Correlates of War NMC v6.0 |
| Military Personnel67 obs · 1950 CE–2016 CE | 2.3Mpersons2016 CE · Correlates of War NMC v6.0 |
Territory & resources
6 of 159 series| Series | Value · year · source |
|---|---|
| Coal Production75 obs · 1950 CE–2024 CE | 26.2KTWh2024 CE · Our World in Data Energy |
| Gas Production75 obs · 1950 CE–2024 CE | 2,483.9TWh2024 CE · Our World in Data Energy |
| Oil Production75 obs · 1950 CE–2024 CE | 2,475.92TWh2024 CE · Our World in Data Energy |
| Agricultural Land %63 obs · 1961 CE–2023 CE | 55.43%2023 CE · World Bank World Development Indicators |
| Arable Land %63 obs · 1961 CE–2023 CE | 11.55% of land area2023 CE · World Bank World Development Indicators |
| Arable Land per capita Ha63 obs · 1961 CE–2023 CE | 0.0769hectares per person2023 CE · World Bank World Development Indicators |
Governance
6 of 24 series| Series | Value · year · source |
|---|---|
| Electoral Democracy Index75 obs · 1950 CE–2024 CE | 0.073index (0-1)2024 CE · V-Dem v15 |
| Liberal Democracy Index75 obs · 1950 CE–2024 CE | 0.036index (0-1)2024 CE · V-Dem v15 |
| Participatory Democracy Index75 obs · 1950 CE–2024 CE | 0.03index (0-1)2024 CE · V-Dem v15 |
| Regime Type75 obs · 1950 CE–2024 CE | 0RoW index (0-3)2024 CE · V-Dem v15 |
| Rule Of Law Index75 obs · 1950 CE–2024 CE | 0.215index (0-1)2024 CE · V-Dem v15 |
| Polity263 obs · 1950 CE–2012 CE | -7index (-10 to 10)2012 CE · Clio-Infra |
Development
6 of 63 series| Series | Value · year · source |
|---|---|
| Freedom Of Expression Index75 obs · 1950 CE–2024 CE | 0.044index (0-1)2024 CE · V-Dem v15 |
| Hospital Beds Per 100059 obs · 1965 CE–2023 CE | 5.63per_10002023 CE · World Bank World Development Indicators |
| Tech Telephones53 obs · 1950 CE–2002 CE | 214Mcount2002 CE · CHAT (Comin-Hobijn) |
| Mobile Subscriptions Per 10052 obs · 1960 CE–2023 CE | 128.25per_1002023 CE · World Bank World Development Indicators |
| Physicians Per 100051 obs · 1965 CE–2022 CE | 3.11per_10002022 CE · World Bank World Development Indicators |
| Tech Mail Items51 obs · 1950 CE–2000 CE | 7,771items2000 CE · CHAT (Comin-Hobijn) |
Rulers
19 on record with dated reigns. Reign years follow the house convention: BCE years are negative.
- Mao ZedongHead of State1949 CE – 1959 CE
- Zhou EnlaiHead of Government1949 CE – 1976 CE
- Liu ShaoqiHead of State1959 CE – 1968 CE
- Dong BiwuHead of State1968 CE – 1975 CE
- Soong Ching-lingHead of State1968 CE – 1975 CE
- Zhu DeHead of State1975 CE – 1976 CE
- Hua GuofengHead of Government1976 CE – 1980 CE
- Ye JianyingHead of State1978 CE – 1983 CE
- Zhao ZiyangHead of Government1980 CE – 1987 CE
- Li XiannianHead of State1983 CE – 1988 CE
- Li PengHead of Government1987 CE – 1998 CE
- Yang ShangkunHead of State1988 CE – 1993 CE
- Jiang ZeminHead of State1993 CE – 2003 CE
- Zhu RongjiHead of Government1998 CE – 2003 CE
- Hu JintaoHead of State2003 CE – 2013 CE
- Wen JiabaoHead of Government2003 CE – 2013 CE
- Li KeqiangHead of Government2013 CE – 2023 CE
- Xi JinpingHead of State2013 CE –
- Li QiangHead of Government2023 CE –
Country profile
From the CIA World Factbook 2024. Long entries are trimmed at a sentence boundary.
- Location
- Eastern Asia, bordering the East China Sea, Korea Bay, Yellow Sea, and South China Sea, between North Korea and Vietnam
- Government type
- communist party-led state
- Executive branch
- chief of state: President XI Jinping (since 14 March 2013); head of government: Premier LI Qiang (since 11 March 2023); cabinet: State Council appointed by National People's Congress; election/appointment process: president and vice president indirectly elected by National People's Congress;
- Ethnic groups
- Han Chinese 91.1%, ethnic minorities 8.9% (includes Zhang, Hui, Manchu, Uighur, Miao, Yi, Tujia, Tibetan, Mongol, Dong, Buyei, Yao, Bai, Korean, Hani, Li, Kazakh, Dai, and other nationalities) (2021 est.)
- Natural resources
- coal, iron ore, helium, petroleum, natural gas, arsenic, bismuth, cobalt, cadmium, ferrosilicon, gallium, germanium, hafnium, indium, lithium, mercury, tantalum, tellurium, tin, titanium, tungsten, antimony, manganese, magnesium, molybdenum, selenium, strontium, vanadium, magnetite, aluminum, lead, zinc, rare earth elements, uranium, hydr…
- Economy
- world’s second-largest economy by nominal GDP; global leader in exports and manufacturing; historically strong growth slowing; challenges of aging workforce, weak productivity, rising youth unemployment, struggling property sector, and public debt; state-sponsored economic controls and infrastructure investments
Language & currency
- Official & national languages
- and Tibetan is official in Xizang, Kyrgyz is official in Xinjiang Uyghur, Mongolian is official in Nei Mongol, note - Zhuang is official in Guangxi Zhuang, Standard Chinese or Mandarin, Uyghur is official in Xinjiang Uygur, Yue is official in Guangdong
- Currency
- Renminbi yuan (RMB)
Memberships
- Allied Powers (WWII)Historical alliance · member1941 CE – 1945 CE
- Russia–China Defense Pact (1950)Military alliance · member1950 CE – 1980 CE
- Afghanistan–China Non-Aggression Pact (1960)Historical alliance · member1960 CE – 1979 CE
- China–Cambodia Non-Aggression Pact (1960)Historical alliance · member1960 CE – 1970 CE
- China–Myanmar Non-Aggression Pact (1960)Historical alliance · member1960 CE – 1967 CE
- China–North Korea Defense Pact (1961)Military alliance · member1961 CE –
- 13-member Non-Aggression Pact (1962)Historical alliance · member1962 CE – 1964 CE
- United NationsUNInternational organisation · member1971 CE –
- 6-member Non-Aggression Pact (1996)Historical alliance · member1996 CE –
- G20G20Political union · founding member1999 CE –
- 7-member Non-Aggression Pact (2002)Historical alliance · member2002 CE –
- BRICSBRICSEconomic bloc · founding member2009 CE –
Sources
Every figure above comes from one of these. Nothing on this page is estimated, interpolated or model-generated.
CHAT (Comin-Hobijn)2009 (FinalCHAT_72909)
Comin, D. & Hobijn, B. (2009). The CHAT Dataset. NBER Working Paper 15319.
NBER research data, freely downloadable
CIA World Factbook 2024
Clio-Infra2017 datasets
Clio-Infra project (2017). Reconstructions of global inequality and well-being. International Institute of Social History.
Academic use, attribution
Seshat Global History Databank. Cliopatria: a historical basemap of polity borders (cliopatria.geojson).
Correlates of War NMC v6.0v6.0
Singer, J.D. (1987). National Material Capabilities Data (NMC), v6.0. Correlates of War Project.
Free academic use, citation
FAS Nuclear Notebook (via OWID)2024
Kristensen, H.M. et al., Federation of American Scientists Nuclear Notebook, via Our World in Data (2024).
CC BY 4.0 (OWID); underlying FAS data
Gapminderv14 / systema globalis
Gapminder Foundation. Gapminder systema globalis dataset.
CC BY 4.0
Maddison Project Database 20232023
Bolt, J. & van Zanden, J.L. (2024). Maddison Project Database 2023. University of Groningen GGDC.
CC BY 4.0
Our World in Data (2024). Energy dataset. Based on Energy Institute & Ember.
CC BY 4.0
UN World Population Prospects 20242024
United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2024). World Population Prospects 2024.
CC BY 3.0 IGO
V-Dem v15v15
Coppedge, M. et al. (2025). V-Dem Country-Year Dataset v15. Varieties of Democracy Project.
Free academic/non-commercial use, attribution
Wikipedia contributors. Article lead sections, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0.
CC BY-SA 4.0
World Bank World Development Indicators2024 release
World Bank (2024). World Development Indicators. Washington, DC.
CC BY 4.0
People's Republic of China is one of the polities with a sourced record deep enough to publish.