Population:
1,338,612,968 (July 2009 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 19.8% (male 140,877,745/female 124,290,090)
15-64 years: 72.1% (male 495,724,889/female 469,182,087)
65 years and over: 8.1% (male 51,774,115/female 56,764,042) (2009 est.)

Median age:
total: 34.1 years
male: 33.5 years
female: 34.7 years (2009 est.)

Population growth rate:
0.655% (2009 est.)

Birth rate:
14 births/1,000 population (2009 est.)

Death rate:
7.06 deaths/1,000 population (July 2009 est.)

Net migration rate:
-0.39 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2009 est.)

Urbanization:
urban population: 43% of total population (2008)
rate of urbanization: 2.7% annual rate of change (2005-10 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.1 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 (2009 est.)

Infant mortality rate:
total: 20.25 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 18.87 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 21.77 deaths/1,000 live births (2009 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 73.47 years
male: 71.61 years
female: 75.52 years (2009 est.)

Total fertility rate:
1.79 children born/woman (2009 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
0.1% (2007 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
700,000 (2007 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths:
39,000 (2007 est.)

Major infectious diseases:
degree of risk: intermediate
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
vectorborne diseases: Japanese encephalitis and dengue fever
soil contact disease: hantaviral hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS)
animal contact disease: rabies
note: highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza has been identified in this country; it poses a negligible risk with extremely rare cases possible among US citizens who have close contact with birds (2009)

Nationality:
noun: Chinese (singular and plural)
adjective: Chinese

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

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), Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghainese), 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
total population: 90.9%
male: 95.1%
female: 86.5% (2000 census)

School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education):
total: 11 years
male: 11 years
female: 11 years (2006)

Education expenditures:
1.9% of GDP (1999)