People

Population: 1 236 914 658 (July 1998 est.)

Age structure:

0-14 years: 26% (male 169 347 516; female 149 897 253)

15-64 years: 68% (male 431 164 591; female 404 513 208)

65 years and over: 6% (male 38 398 920; female 43 593 170) (July 1998 est.)

Population growth rate: 0.83% (1998 est.)

Birth rate: 15.73 births/1 000 population (1998 est.)

Death rate: 6.99 deaths/1 000 population (1998 est.)

Net migration rate: -0.41 migrant(s)/1 000 population (1998 est.)

Sex ratio:

at birth: 1.15 male(s)/female 6

under 15 years: 1.13 male(s)/female

15-64 years: 1.07 male(s)/female

65 years and over: 0.88 male(s)/female (1998 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 45.46 deaths/1 000 live births (1998 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:

total population: 69.59 years

male: 68.32 years

female: 71.06 years (1998 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.8 children born/woman (1998 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, Christian 3%-4%, Muslim 1%-2%
note: officially atheist (2002 est.)

Languages: Standard Chinese or Mandarin (Putonghua based on the Beijing dialect  -  called Guoyu, especially by Taiwan), Yue (Cantonese) Wu (Shanghaiese) Minbei (Fuzhou) Minnan (Hokkien) Xiang Gan Hakka dialects minority languages (see Ethnic divisions entry)

Literacy:

definition: age 15 and over can read and write

total population: 81.5%

male: 89.9%

female: 82.7% (1995 est.)