Population, GDP, natural resources, leaders and history of China: the Magna Factbook country file, with its Magna grade (MAB, ranked #1 of 195).
China is a communist party-led state in Eastern Asia, bordering the East China Sea, Korea Bay, Yellow Sea, and South China Sea, between North Korea and Vietnam. The country's capital is Beijing; it covers 9,596,960 sq km. Independence: 1 October 1949 (People's Republic of China established); notable earlier dates: 221 B.C. (unification under the Qin Dynasty); 1 January 1912 (Qing Dynasty replaced by the Republic of China). Terrain: mostly mountains, high plateaus, deserts in west; plains, deltas, and hills in east. Climate: extremely diverse; tropical in south to subarctic in north. Population: 1.41 billion (2025 estimate). Population growth: +0.08% per year. Median age: 40.8 years. Life ex…
| Capital | Beijing |
|---|---|
| Population | 1,407,181,209 (2025 est.) |
| GDP (PPP) | $33.598 trillion (2024 est.) |
| GDP per capita (PPP) | $23,800 (2024 est.) |
| Real GDP growth | 5% (2024 est.) |
| Inflation | 0.2% |
| Unemployment | 4.6% |
| Public debt | 47% of GDP (2017 est.) |
| Exports | $3.793 trillion (2024 est.) |
| Imports | $3.254 trillion (2024 est.) |
| Life expectancy | 78.7 years (2024 est.) |
| Median age | 40.8 |
| Urbanization | 64.6% of total population (2023) |
| Government | communist party-led state |
| Independence | 1 October 1949 (People's Republic of China established); notable earlier dates: 221 B.C. (unification under the Qin Dynasty); 1 January 1912 (Qing Dynasty replaced by the Republic of China) |
| Languages | Standard Chinese or Mandarin (official; Putonghua, based on the Beijing dialect), Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghainese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese), Xiang, Gan, Hakka dialects, minority languages; note - Zhuang is official in Guangxi Zhuang, Yue is official in Guangdong, Mongolian is official in Nei Mongol, Uyghur is official in Xinjiang Uygur, Kyrgyz is official in Xinjiang Uyghur, and Tibetan is official in Xizang (Tibet) |
MAB · 84/100 — The Magna grade is our 0–100 composite of structural national power — five dimensions, 100+ indicators. It is the Bureau's own assessment, not a mirror of World Bank or CIA figures.
Momentum +7 — Quarterly momentum: the Bureau's read on the country's trajectory over the last quarter, from −10 (deteriorating fast) to +10 (accelerating).
Xi Jinping set the agenda at the New Delhi BRICS summit with the 'Greater BRICS' initiative — an AI open-source zone, special-economic-zone partnerships and a service-trade forum.
The Washington summit capped the quarter: $60B of tariff relief and a truce into January 2027. China takes the BRICS chair in 2027 — this quarter was positioning for it.
Coal, Iron ore, Oil, Natural gas, Cobalt, Lithium, Mercury, Tantalum, Tin, Titanium, Tungsten, Antimony, Manganese, Magnesium, Molybdenum, Vanadium, Lead, Zinc, Rare earths, Uranium, Hydropower.
Xi Jinping — President. President XI Jinping (since 14 March 2013)
China maintains 173 embassies and 91 consulates abroad, hosts 176 foreign diplomatic missions, holds permanent missions to African Union Addis Ababa, ASEAN Jakarta, EU Brussels, ICAO Montreal, OPCW The Hague, ESCAP Bangkok, ISA Kingston, WTO Geneva, UN New York, UN Geneva, UN Vienna, UNESCO Paris. The breadth of a diplomatic network is a direct measure of diplomatic power — it shows how far a country’s influence, alliances and interests reach.
| Embassies abroad | 173 |
|---|---|
| Consulates abroad | 91 |
| Foreign missions hosted | 176 |
| Multilateral missions | African Union Addis Ababa, ASEAN Jakarta, EU Brussels, ICAO Montreal, OPCW The Hague, ESCAP Bangkok, ISA Kingston, WTO Geneva, UN New York, UN Geneva, UN Vienna, UNESCO Paris |
Source: Wikipedia 'Ministry of Foreign Affairs (China)' (2024 figures); Wikipedia 'List of diplomatic missions in China', https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_diplomatic_missions_in_China
Transport networks are economic power made physical — ports, runways, railways and pipelines decide what a country can move, sell and defend.
| Sea access | Coastal — 14500 km of coastline. |
|---|---|
| Airports (total) | 552 + 120 heliports (registration prefix B) |
| Major seaports | Chaozhou, Dalian, Fang-Cheng, Guangzhou, Hankow, Lon Shui Terminal, Qingdao Gang, Qinhuangdao, Shanghai, Shekou, Tianjin Xin Gang, Weihai, Wenzhou, Xiamen |
| Railways | 150000 km |
| Pipelines | 76,000 km gas, 30,400 km crude oil, 27,700 km refined petroleum products, 797,000 km water (2018) |
| Top container ports (TEU) | Shanghai (47,030,300 TEU, 2021); Ningbo (31,070,000 TEU, 2021); Shenzhen (28,767,600 TEU, 2021) |
Baotou Donghe International Airport (BAV) — Baotou; Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK) — Beijing; Beijing Daxing International Airport (PKX) — Beijing; Changchun Longjia International Airport (CGQ) — Changchun; Changsha Huanghua International Airport (CSX) — Changsha (Changsha); Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport (CTU) — Chengdu (Shuangliu); Chengdu Tianfu International Airport (TFU) — Chengdu (Jianyang); Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport (CKG) — Chongqing; Dalian Zhoushuizi International Airport (DLC) — Dalian (Ganjingzi); Datong Yungang International Airport (DAT) — Datong.
Showing 10 of 15 major airports.
| LNG import terminals | Fujian, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shandong, Shanghai, Tangshan, Zhejiang |
|---|---|
| River ports | Guangzhou (Pearl) |
Sources: OurAirports public-domain extract (2026-10-02); per-entry Wikipedia links included; CIA World Factbook via cia_factbook snapshot (2026-09-28); theodora.com CIA mirror (CIA World Factbook Transportation section), scraped 2026-10-02
| Political system | one-party communist state |
|---|---|
| Last election | 2022 — party_congress; 2022-10-23; winner: Xi Jinping (CCP); 20th Party Congress: 3rd term as General Secretary; re-elected PRC President 2023-03-10 Wikipedia |
| Next election | 2027 — 21st Party Congress (scheduled) |
Source: constitutional schedule / public election calendar
MAB · 84 Ranked #1 of 195 countries in the Magna Country Rankings. Full ranking breakdown for China.
