China Quick Fact Sheet

Location: East Asia, on the west coast of Pacific Ocean
Area: 9,596,961 sq km
Land: 9,569,901 sq km
Water: 270.060 sq km
Land boundaries: Total: 22,117 km

Border countries: Afghanistan 76 km, Bhutan 470 km, Burma 2,185 km, India 3380 km, Kazakhstan 1,533 km, North Korea 1,416 km, Kyrgyzstan 858 km, Laos 423 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

Capital city: Beijing
Population: 1,336,718,015 (mainland, July 2011 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 17.6% (male 126,634,384/female 108,463,142)
15-64 years: 73.6%(male 505,326,577/female 477,953,883)
65 years and over: 8.9% (male 56,823,028/female 61,517,001) (2011 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
Total population: 74.68 years
Male: 72.68 years
Female: 76.94 years (2011 est.)

Literacy:
Definition: age 15 and over can read and write
Total population: 92.2%
Male: 96%
Female: 88.5% (2008 census)
Official language: Chinese Putonghua (based on Beijing Mandarin dialect)

Religion: Taoism (Taoism), Buddhism, Christian, Muslim

Ethnic groups: Han Chinese (91.5%), plus 55 ethnic minorities including Zhuang, Manchu, Hui, Miao, Uyghur, Tujia, Yi, Mongol, Tibetan, Buyi, Dong, Yao, Korean, and other nationalities 8.5% (2000 census)

Head of State: Hu Jintao

National Flag: Five-star red flag, length and width proportion: 3:2.

National Day: October 1, founded in 1949

Currency: Renminbi (RMB) yuan

Weights and Measures: metric system

GDP (official exchange rate): $5.878 trillion (2010 est.)