2000 Chinese census


The 2000 Chinese census, officially the Fifth National Population Census of the People's Republic of China, was conducted by the government of the People's Republic of China with 1 November 2000 as its zero hour. The total population was calculated as 1,295,330,000. The census also covered population growth, number of households, sex, age, ethnicity, educational attainment, and urban and rural population.
The census did not include the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau.

Population by province-level division

Based on the results of the Fifth National Population Census, Henan was the most populous province-level division, Shandong was ranked second, Guangdong and Sichuan were third and fourth, and Jiangsu, Hebei, Hunan, Hubei, Anhui, and Zhejiang were ranked fifth through tenth. Hainan, Ningxia, Qinghai, and Tibet were the four least populous, with fewer than 10 million people each. Tibet was the least populous of all, with 2,620,000 people.
There were nine province-level divisions with more than 50 million people, eighteen with 10–50 million people, and four with less than 10 million people.

More than 50 million

Distribution of ethnic minorities

There were four province-level divisions with an ethnic minority population of more than 10 million: in decreasing order, Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Xinjiang. There were two more provinces, Liaoning and Hunan, with an ethnic minority population of more than 5 million. Fourteen more, including Inner Mongolia and Sichuan, had an ethnic minority population of more than 1 million. Three more had more than 500,000, while the remaining eight had more than 100,000 each.
There were 13 province-level divisions where the proportion of ethnic minorities was higher than the national average. In Tibet and Xinjiang more than 50% of the population belonged to ethnic minorities: 93.94% in Tibet and 59.43% in Xinjiang. In Qinghai, Guangxi, Guizhou, Ningxia, and Yunnan the ethnic minority population was greater than 30%. In Inner Mongolia it was 20.83%. In Hainan, Liaoning, and Hunan it was more than 10%, and in Jilin and Gansu it was also greater than the nationwide proportion of 8.41%.

Absolute population of ethnic minorities

  • Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Xinjiang had the highest numbers of ethnic minorities, more than 10 million each.
  • Liaoning and Hunan had more than 5 million.
  • Inner Mongolia and Sichuan had more than 4 million.
  • Hebei, Hubei, Jilin, Tibet, Qinghai, and Gansu had more than 2 million.
  • Chongqing, Ningxia, Heilongjiang, Hainan, Guangdong, and Henan had more than 1 million. The remaining 11 province-level divisions had an ethnic minority population of less than 1 million.

    Proportion of ethnic minorities

  • Tibet and Xinjiang had the highest concentration of ethnic minorities, representing 94.07% and 59.39% of the population respectively, followed by Qinghai where they were 45.51% of the population.
  • Guangxi, Guizhou, Ningxia, and Yunnan had more than 30% ethnic minorities.
  • Inner Mongolia's population was 20.76% minority, while Hainan, Liaoning, and Hunan were over 10%.
  • Jilin, Gansu, Chongqing, and Heilongjiang were over 5%.
  • Sichuan, Hubei, Hebei, and Beijing were over 4%.
  • Tianjin, Fujian, Guangdong, and Henan were between 1% and 3%, while the remaining eight province-level divisions were less than 1% ethnic minority.

    List of regions and ethnic minority population

Rank
Administrative
region

Total population
Region's population
as a percentage
of total

Ethnic minority
population

Ethnic minorities
as a percentage of
region's population

Percentage of
total ethnic minority
population

Total1,245,110,826100105,337,8188.46100
Total 1,242,612,22699.80105,226,1148.4799.89
East China358,849,24428.822,499,2560.702.37
South China350,658,47728.1629,563,5718.4328.07
Southwest China193,085,17215.5136,044,78818.6734.22
North China145,896,93311.728,716,1905.978.27
Northeast China104,864,1798.4210,944,33410.4410.39
Northwest China89,258,2217.1717,457,97519.5616.57
1Henan91,236,8547.331,143,5681.251.09
2Shandong89,971,7897.23632,7430.700.60
3Guangdong85,225,0076.841,269,1371.491.20
4Sichuan82,348,2966.614,118,5995.003.91
5Jiangsu73,043,5775.87259,9030.360.25
6Hebei66,684,4195.362,902,8164.352.76
7Hunan63,274,1735.086,410,69410.136.09
8Hubei59,508,8704.782,596,9024.362.47
9Anhui58,999,9484.74397,8360.670.38
10Zhejiang45,930,6513.69395,3850.860.38
11Guangxi43,854,5383.5216,829,56438.3815.98
12Yunnan42,360,0893.4014,158,81533.4213.44
13Liaoning41,824,4123.366,718,42116.066.38
14Jiangxi40,397,5983.24125,7170.310.12
15Heilongjiang36,237,5762.911,772,5374.891.68
16Shaanxi35,365,0722.84176,4210.500.17
17Guizhou35,247,6952.8313,336,00837.8412.66
18Fujian34,097,9472.74583,8001.710.55
19Shanxi32,471,2422.61103,1590.320.10
20Chongqing30,512,7632.451,973,6076.471.87
21Jilin26,802,1912.152,453,3769.152.33
22Gansu25,124,2822.022,199,2198.752.09
23Inner Mongolia23,323,3471.874,857,76120.834.61
24Xinjiang18,459,5111.4810,969,59259.4310.41
25Shanghai16,407,7341.32103,8720.630.10
26Beijing13,569,1941.09585,4984.310.56
27Tianjin9,848,7310.79266,9562.710.25
28Hainan7,559,0350.611,313,70617.381.25
29Ningxia5,486,3930.441,895,83034.561.80
30Qinghai4,822,9630.392,216,91345.972.10
31Tibet2,616,3290.212,457,75993.942.33
Active-duty military2,498,6000.20111,7044.470.11

Ethnicity

The Han Chinese population had increased by 11.22% since the 1990 census, going from 91.96% of the population to 91.59%. The ethnic minority population had increased by 16.70% since the 1990 census, going from 8.04% of the population to 8.41%. The ethnic minority population grew at a higher rate than the Han population due to affirmative action under the one-child policy.
After Han, the second most populous ethnic group was the Zhuang, followed by the Manchus, each of which had more than 10 million people, and the Hui with 9,817,000 people. There were more than 8 million Miao, Uyghurs, and Tujia; 7,762,000 Yi; more than 5 million Mongols and Tibetans; more than 1 million but less than 3 million of each of nine ethnic groups including the Buyi, Dong, Koreans, and Kazakhs; more than 100,000 but less than 1 million of each of 17 ethnic groups including the She, Lisu, and Kyrgyz; and more than 10,000 but less than 100,000 of each of 13 ethnic groups including the Blang and Tajiks. Seven other ethnic groups, including the Moinba, Oroqen, and Drung, had a population of less than 10,000 each; among them, the Tatars, Hezhe, indigenous Taiwanese, and Lhoba had less than 50,000 each. The least populous ethnic group was the Lhoba, with only 2,965 people. There were 734,438 people belonging to unrecognized ethnic groups, including 710,486 in Guizhou, 7,404 in Yunnan, and more than 1,000 in each of Tibet, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Jiangsu.

Ethnicity
Population
As a percentage of
total population
31 administrative
regions
Active-duty soldiers
Total1,245,110,8261001,242,612,2262,498,600
1Han1,139,773,00891.591,137,386,1122,386,896
2Zhuang16,187,1631.3016,178,8118,352
3Manchu10,708,4640.8610,682,26226,202
4Hui9,828,1260.799,816,80511,321
5Miao8,945,5380.728,940,1165,422
6Uyghur8,405,4160.688,399,3936,023
7Tujia8,037,0140.658,028,1338,881
8Yi7,765,8580.627,762,2723,586
9Mongol5,827,8080.475,813,94713,861
10Tibetan5,422,9540.445,416,0216,933
11Buyi2,973,2170.242,971,4601,757
12Dong2,962,9110.242,960,2932,618
13Yao2,638,8780.212,637,4211,457
14Korean1,929,6960.161,923,8425,854
15Bai1,861,8950.151,858,0633,832
16Hani1,440,0290.121,439,673356
17Kazakh1,251,0230.101,250,458565
18Li1,248,0220.101,247,814208
19Dai1,159,2310.0931,158,989242
20She710,0390.057709,592447
21Lisu635,1010.051634,912189
22Gelao579,7440.047579,357387
23Dongxiang513,8260.041513,80521
24Lahu453,7650.036453,70560
25Shui407,0000.033406,90298
26Wa396,7090.032396,61099
27Naxi309,4770.025308,839638
28Qiang306,4760.025306,072404
29Tu241,5930.019241,198395
30Mulao207,4640.017207,352112
31Sibe189,3570.015188,824533
32Kyrgyz160,8750.013160,82352
33Daur132,7470.011132,394353
34Jingpo132,1580.011132,14315
35Maonan107,1840.0086107,16618
36Salar104,5210.0084104,50318
37Blang91,8910.007491,8829
38Tajik41,0560.003341,02828
39Achang33,9540.002733,93618
40Pumi33,6280.002733,60028
41Evenk30,5450.002530,50540
42Nu28,7700.002328,75911
43Vietnamese 22,5840.001822,51767
44Jino20,8990.001720,899
45De'ang17,9350.001417,935
46Bonan16,5050.001316,505
47Russian15,6310.001315,60922
48Yugur13,7470.001113,71928
49Uzbek12,4230.001012,37053
50Moinba8,9280.00078,9235
51Oroqen8,2160.00078,19620
52Drung7,4310.00067,4265
53Tatar4,8950.00044,8905
54Hezhe4,6640.00044,64024
55Indigenous Taiwanese 4,4880.00044,46127
56Lhoba2,9700.00022,9655
Unrecognized ethnic groups734,4380.0590734,438
Naturalized Chinese citizens9410.0001941