Population: 1,246,871,951 (July 1999 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 26% (male 169,206,275; female 149,115,216)
15-64 years: 68% (male 435,047,915; female 408,663,265)
65 years and over: 6% (male 39,824,361; female 45,014,919) (1999 est.)

Population growth rate: 0.77% (1999 est.)

Birth rate: 15.1 births/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Death rate: 6.98 deaths/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Net migration rate: -0.41 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.15 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.13 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.88 male(s)/female
total population: 1.07 male(s)/female (1999 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 43.31 deaths/1,000 live births (1999 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 69.92 years
male: 68.57 years
female: 71.48 years (1999 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.8 children born/woman (1999 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: Daoism (Taoism), Buddhism, Muslim 2%-3%, Christian 1% (est.)
note: officially atheist, but traditionally pragmatic and eclectic

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 divisions entry)

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 81.5%
male: 89.9%
female: 72.7% (1995 est.)