Compare China (2003) - Russia (2003)

Compare China (2003) z Russia (2003)

	China (2003)	Russia (2003)

Administrative divisions	23 provinces (sheng, singular and plural), 5 autonomous regions* (zizhiqu, singular and plural), and 4 municipalities (shi, singular and plural); Anhui, Beijing, Chongqing*, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanghai, Shanxi, Sichuan, Tianjin, Xinjiang, Xizang (Tibet), Yunnan, Zhejiang; note - China considers Taiwan its 23rd province; see separate entries for the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau	49 oblasts (oblastey, singular - oblast), 21 republics* (respublik, singular - respublika), 10 autonomous okrugs(avtonomnykh okrugov, singular - avtonomnyy okrug), 6 krays* (krayev, singular - kray), 2 federal cities (singular - gorod)**, and 1 autonomous oblast**(avtonomnaya oblast'); Adygeya (Maykop), Aginskiy Buryatskiy (Aginskoye)*, Altay (Gorno-Altaysk), Altayskiy (Barnaul)**, Amurskaya (Blagoveshchensk), Arkhangel'skaya, Astrakhanskaya, Bashkortostan (Ufa), Belgorodskaya, Bryanskaya, Buryatiya (Ulan-Ude), Chechnya (Groznyy), Chelyabinskaya, Chitinskaya, Chukotskiy (Anadyr')*, Chuvashiya (Cheboksary), Dagestan (Makhachkala), Evenkiyskiy (Tura), Ingushetiya (Nazran'), Irkutskaya, Ivanovskaya, Kabardino-Balkariya (Nal'chik), Kaliningradskaya, Kalmykiya (Elista), Kaluzhskaya, Kamchatskaya (Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy), Karachayevo-Cherkesiya (Cherkessk), Kareliya (Petrozavodsk), Kemerovskaya, Khabarovskiy**, Khakasiya (Abakan), Khanty-Mansiyskiy (Khanty-Mansiysk)*, Kirovskaya, Komi (Syktyvkar), Koryakskiy (Palana), Kostromskaya, Krasnodarskiy, Krasnoyarskiy*, Kurganskaya, Kurskaya, Leningradskaya, Lipetskaya, Magadanskaya, Mariy-El (Yoshkar-Ola), Mordoviya (Saransk), Moskovskaya, Moskva (Moscow)*, Murmanskaya, Nenetskiy (Nar'yan-Mar), Nizhegorodskaya, Novgorodskaya, Novosibirskaya, Omskaya, Orenburgskaya, Orlovskaya (Orel), Penzenskaya, Permskaya, Komi-Permyatskiy (Kudymkar), Primorskiy (Vladivostok), Pskovskaya, Rostovskaya, Ryazanskaya, Sakha (Yakutiya), Sakhalinskaya (Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk), Samarskaya, Sankt-Peterburg (Saint Petersburg)***, Saratovskaya, Severnaya Osetiya-Alaniya [North Ossetia] (Vladikavkaz), Smolenskaya, Stavropol'skiy**, Sverdlovskaya (Yekaterinburg), Tambovskaya, Tatarstan (Kazan'), Taymyrskiy (Dudinka)*, Tomskaya, Tul'skaya, Tverskaya, Tyumenskaya, Tyva (Kyzyl), Udmurtiya (Izhevsk), Ul'yanovskaya, Ust'-Ordynskiy Buryatskiy (Ust'-Ordynskiy), Vladimirskaya, Volgogradskaya, Vologodskaya, Voronezhskaya, Yamalo-Nenetskiy (Salekhard), Yaroslavskaya, Yevreyskaya****; note - when using a place name with an adjectival ending 'skaya' or 'skiy,' the word Oblast' or Avonomnyy Okrug or Kray should be added to the place name note: administrative divisions have the same names as their administrative centers (exceptions have the administrative center name following in parentheses)
Age structure	0-14 years: 23.1% (male 155,473,656; female 141,737,406) 15-64 years: 69.5% (male 461,223,219; female 433,154,970) 65 years and over: 7.4% (male 44,954,643; female 50,431,574) (2003 est.)	0-14 years: 16% (male 11,815,360; female 11,335,715) 15-64 years: 70.4% (male 49,399,322; female 52,367,194) 65 years and over: 13.6% (male 6,394,411; female 13,214,276) (2003 est.)
Agriculture - products	rice, wheat, potatoes, sorghum, peanuts, tea, millet, barley, cotton, oilseed; pork; fish	grain, sugar beets, sunflower seed, vegetables, fruits; beef, milk
Airports	500 (2002)	2,743 (2002)
Airports - with paved runways	total: 351 over 3,047 m: 32 2,438 to 3,047 m: 108 1,524 to 2,437 m: 143 914 to 1,523 m: 29 under 914 m: 39 (2002)	total: 471 over 3,047 m: 56 2,438 to 3,047 m: 178 1,524 to 2,437 m: 76 914 to 1,523 m: 69 under 914 m: 92 (2002)
Airports - with unpaved runways	total: 149 over 3,047 m: 4 2,438 to 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 25 914 to 1,523 m: 48 under 914 m: 71 (2002)	total: 2,272 over 3,047 m: 28 2,438 to 3,047 m: 118 1,524 to 2,437 m: 204 914 to 1,523 m: 324 under 914 m: 1,598 (2002)
Area	total: 9,596,960 sq km land: 9,326,410 sq km water: 270,550 sq km	total: 17,075,200 sq km land: 16,995,800 sq km water: 79,400 sq km
Area - comparative	slightly smaller than the US	approximately 1.8 times the size of the US
Background	For centuries China stood as a leading civilization, outpacing the rest of the world in the arts and sciences. But in the 19th and early 20th centuries, China was beset by civil unrest, major famines, military defeats, and foreign occupation. After World War II, the Communists under MAO Zedong established a dictatorship that, while ensuring China's sovereignty, imposed strict controls over everyday life and cost the lives of tens of millions of people. After 1978, his successor DENG Xiaoping gradually introduced market-oriented reforms and decentralized economic decision-making. Output quadrupled by 2000. Political controls remain tight while economic controls continue to be relaxed.	Repeated devastating defeats of the Russian army in World War I led to widespread rioting in the major cities of the Russian Empire and to the overthrow in 1917 of the 300-year old Romanov Dynasty. The Communists under Vladimir LENIN seized power soon after and formed the USSR. The brutal rule of Josef STALIN (1928-53) strengthened Russian dominance of the Soviet Union at a cost of tens of millions of lives. The Soviet economy and society stagnated in the following decades until General Secretary Mikhail GORBACHEV (1985-91) introduced glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) in an attempt to modernize Communism, but his initiatives inadvertently released forces that by December 1991 splintered the USSR into 15 independent republics. Since then, Russia has struggled in its efforts to build a democratic political system and market economy to replace the strict social, political, and economic controls of the Communist period. A determined guerrilla conflict still plagues Russia in Chechnya.
Birth rate	12.96 births/1,000 population (2003 est.)	10.09 births/1,000 population (2003 est.)
Budget	revenues: $224.8 billion expenditures: $267.1 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (2000)	revenues: $70 billion expenditures: $62 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (2002 est.)
Capital	Beijing	Moscow
Climate	extremely diverse; tropical in south to subarctic in north	ranges from steppes in the south through humid continental in much of European Russia; subarctic in Siberia to tundra climate in the polar north; winters vary from cool along Black Sea coast to frigid in Siberia; summers vary from warm in the steppes to cool along Arctic coast
Coastline	14,500 km	37,653 km
Constitution	most recent promulgation 4 December 1982	adopted 12 December 1993
Country name	conventional long form: People's Republic of China conventional short form: China local long form: Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo local short form: Zhong Guo abbreviation: PRC	conventional long form: Russian Federation conventional short form: Russia local long form: Rossiyskaya Federatsiya local short form: Rossiya former: Russian Empire, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
Currency	yuan (CNY) note:: also referred to as the Renminbi (RMB)	Russian ruble (RUR)
Death rate	6.74 deaths/1,000 population (2003 est.)	13.99 deaths/1,000 population (2003 est.)
Debt - external	$149.4 billion (2002 est.)	$153.5 billion (yearend 2002)
Diplomatic representation from the US	chief of mission: Ambassador Clark T. RANDT, Jr. embassy: Xiu Shui Bei Jie 3, 100600 Beijing mailing address: PSC 461, Box 50, FPO AP 96521-0002 telephone: [86] (10) 6532-3831 FAX: [86] (10) 6532-6929 consulate(s) general: Chengdu, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Shenyang	chief of mission: Ambassador Alexander VERSHBOW embassy: Bolshoy Devyatinskiy Pereulok No. 8, 121099 Moscow mailing address: PSC-77, APO AE 09721 telephone: [7] (095) 728-5000 FAX: [7] (095) 728-5090 consulate(s) general: Saint Petersburg, Vladivostok, Yekaterinburg
Diplomatic representation in the US	chief of mission: Ambassador YANG Jiechi chancery: 2300 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 328-2500 FAX: [1] (202) 328-2582 consulate(s) general: Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco	chief of mission: Ambassador Yuriy Viktorovich USHAKOV chancery: 2650 Wisconsin Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20007 telephone: [1] (202) 298-5700, 5701, 5704, 5708 FAX: [1] (202) 298-5735 consulate(s) general: New York, San Francisco, and Seattle
Disputes - international	involved in complex dispute over the Spratly Islands with Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, and possibly Brunei; claimants in November 2002 signed the "Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea", a mechanism to ease tension but which fell short of a legally binding "code of conduct"; much of the rugged, militarized boundary with India is in dispute, but the two sides have participated in more than 13 rounds of joint working group sessions on this issue; India objects to Pakistan ceding lands to China in 1965 boundary agreement that India believes are part of disputed Kashmir; China, as well as Taiwan, claims Japanese-administered Senkaku-shoto (Diaoyu Tai) islands; negotiations with Tajikistan resolved the longstanding boundary dispute; China and Kazakhstan have resolved their border dispute and are working to delimit their large open borders to control population migration, illegal activities, and trade; Kyrgyzstan's constitutional court rules that 1,270 sq km ceded to China in 2000 delimitation agreement were legally transferred; certain islands in Yalu and Tumen rivers are in uncontested dispute with North Korea and a section of boundary around Mount Paektu is indefinite - China objects to illegal migration of North Koreans into northern China; China continues to seek a mutually acceptable solution to the disputed alluvial islands with Russia at the confluence of the Amur and Ussuri rivers and a small island on the Argun river as part of the 2001 Treaty of Good Neighborliness, Friendship, and Cooperation; boundary agreements signed in 2002 with Tajikistan cedes 1,000 sq km of Pamir Mountain range to China in return for China's relinquishing claims to 28,000 sq km; demarcation of land boundary with Vietnam continues but maritime boundary and joint fishing zone agreement remains unratified; China occupies Paracel Islands also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan	China continues to seek a mutually acceptable solution to the disputed alluvial islands at the confluence of the Amur and Ussuri rivers and a small island on the Argun River as part of the 2001 Treaty of Good Neighborliness, Friendship, and Cooperation; the islands of Etorofu, Kunashiri, Shikotan, and the Habomai group identified by the Russians as the "Southern Kurils" and by Japan as the "Northern Territories" occupied by the Soviet Union in 1945, now administered by Russia, claimed by Japan; boundary with Georgia has been largely delimited but not demarcated with several small, strategic segments remaining in dispute and OSCE observers monitoring volatile areas such as the Pankisi Gorge in the Akhmeti region and the Argun Gorge in Abkhazia; equidistant seabed treaties have been signed with Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan in the Caspian Sea but no resolution on dividing the water column among any of the littoral states; Russia and Norway dispute their maritime limits in the Barents Sea and Russia's fishing rights beyond Svalbard's territorial limits within the Svalbard Treaty zone; Russia continues to reject signing and ratifying the joint 1996 technical border agreement with Estonia; the Russian Parliament refuses to consider ratification of the boundary treaties with Estonia and Latvia, but in May 2003, ratified land and maritime boundary treaty with Lithuania, which ratified the 1997 treaty in 1999, legalizing limits of former Soviet republic borders; discussions are still ongoing among Russia, Lithuania and the EU concerning a simplified transit document for residents of the Kaliningrad coastal exclave to transit through Lithuania to Russia; land delimitation with Ukraine is ratified, but maritime regime of the Sea of Azov and Kerch Strait is unresolved; delimitation with Kazakhstan is scheduled for completion in 2003; Russian Duma has not yet ratified 1990 Maritime Boundary Agreement with the US in the Bering Sea
Economic aid - recipient	$NA	in FY01 from US, $979 million (including $750 million in non-proliferation subsidies); in 2001 from EU, $200 million
Economy - overview	In late 1978 the Chinese leadership began moving the economy from a sluggish, Soviet-style centrally planned economy to a more market-oriented system. Whereas the system operates within a political framework of strict Communist control, the economic influence of non-state organizations and individual citizens has been steadily increasing. The authorities switched to a system of household and village responsibility in agriculture in place of the old collectivization, increased the authority of local officials and plant managers in industry, permitted a wide variety of small-scale enterprises in services and light manufacturing, and opened the economy to increased foreign trade and investment. The result has been a quadrupling of GDP since 1978. In 2003, with its 1.3 billion people but a GDP of just $5,000 per capita, China stood as the second-largest economy in the world after the US (measured on a purchasing power parity basis). Agriculture and industry have posted major gains, especially in coastal areas near Hong Kong and opposite Taiwan, where foreign investment has helped spur output of both domestic and export goods. The leadership, however, often has experienced - as a result of its hybrid system - the worst results of socialism (bureaucracy and lassitude) and of capitalism (windfall gains and growing income disparities). China thus has periodically backtracked, retightening central controls at intervals. The government has struggled to (a) collect revenues due from provinces, businesses, and individuals; (b) reduce corruption and other economic crimes; and (c) keep afloat the large state-owned enterprises, many of which had been shielded from competition by subsidies and had been losing the ability to pay full wages and pensions. From 80 to 120 million surplus rural workers are adrift between the villages and the cities, many subsisting through part-time low-paying jobs. Popular resistance, changes in central policy, and loss of authority by rural cadres have weakened China's population control program, which is essential to maintaining long-term growth in living standards. Another long-term threat to growth is the deterioration in the environment, notably air pollution, soil erosion, and the steady fall of the water table especially in the north. China continues to lose arable land because of erosion and economic development. Beijing says it will intensify efforts to stimulate growth through spending on infrastructure - such as water control and power grids - and poverty relief and through rural tax reform aimed at eliminating arbitrary local levies on farmers. Accession to the World Trade Organization helps strengthen China's ability to maintain strong growth rates but at the same time puts additional pressure on the hybrid system of strong political controls and growing market influences. China has benefited from a huge expansion in computer internet use. Foreign investment remains a strong element in China's remarkable economic growth.	A decade after the implosion of the Soviet Union in December 1991, Russia is still struggling to establish a modern market economy and achieve strong economic growth. In contrast to its trading partners in Central Europe - which were able within 3 to 5 years to overcome the initial production declines that accompanied the launch of market reforms - Russia saw its economy contract for five years, as the executive and legislature dithered over the implementation of many of the basic foundations of a market economy. Russia achieved a slight recovery in 1997, but the government's stubborn budget deficits and the country's poor business climate made it vulnerable when the global financial crisis swept through in 1998. The crisis culminated in the August depreciation of the ruble, a debt default by the government, and a sharp deterioration in living standards for most of the population. The economy subsequently has rebounded, growing by an average of more than 6% annually in 1999-2002 on the back of higher oil prices and the 60% depreciation of the ruble in 1998. These GDP numbers, along with a renewed government effort to advance lagging structural reforms, have raised business and investor confidence over Russia's prospects in its second decade of transition. Yet serious problems persist. Oil, natural gas, metals, and timber account for more than 80% of exports, leaving the country vulnerable to swings in world prices. Russia's industrial base is increasingly dilapidated and must be replaced or modernized if the country is to maintain vigorous economic growth. Other problems include a weak banking system, a poor business climate that discourages both domestic and foreign investors, corruption, local and regional government intervention in the courts, and widespread lack of trust in institutions. In 2003 President PUTIN further tightened his control over the "oligarchs," especially in the realm of political expression.
Electricity - consumption	1.312 trillion kWh (2001)	773 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - exports	10.3 billion kWh (2001)	21.16 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - imports	1.55 billion kWh (2001)	7 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - production	1.42 trillion kWh (2001)	846.5 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - production by source	fossil fuel: 80.2% hydro: 18.5% nuclear: 1.2% other: 0.1% (2001)	fossil fuel: 64.3% hydro: 20.5% nuclear: 14.8% other: 0.4% (2001)
Elevation extremes	lowest point: Turpan Pendi -154 m highest point: Mount Everest 8,850 m (1999 est.)	lowest point: Caspian Sea -28 m highest point: Gora El'brus 5,633 m
Environment - current issues	air pollution (greenhouse gases, sulfur dioxide particulates) from reliance on coal produces acid rain; water shortages, particularly in the north; water pollution from untreated wastes; deforestation; estimated loss of one-fifth of agricultural land since 1949 to soil erosion and economic development; desertification; trade in endangered species	air pollution from heavy industry, emissions of coal-fired electric plants, and transportation in major cities; industrial, municipal, and agricultural pollution of inland waterways and seacoasts; deforestation; soil erosion; soil contamination from improper application of agricultural chemicals; scattered areas of sometimes intense radioactive contamination; groundwater contamination from toxic waste; urban solid waste management; abandoned stocks of obsolete pesticides
Environment - international agreements	party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol	party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Seals, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Wetlands, Whaling signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Persistent Organic Pollutants
Ethnic groups	Han Chinese 91.9%, Zhuang, Uygur, Hui, Yi, Tibetan, Miao, Manchu, Mongol, Buyi, Korean, and other nationalities 8.1%	Russian 81.5%, Tatar 3.8%, Ukrainian 3%, Chuvash 1.2%, Bashkir 0.9%, Belarusian 0.8%, Moldavian 0.7%, other 8.1% (1989)
Exchange rates	yuan per US dollar - 8.28 (2002), 8.28 (2001), 8.28 (2000), 8.28 (1999), 8.28 (1998)	Russian rubles per US dollar - 31.27 (2002), 29.17 (2001), 28.13 (2000), 24.62 (1999), 9.71 (1998) note: the post-1 January 1998 ruble is equal to 1,000 of the pre-1 January 1998 rubles
Executive branch	chief of state: President HU Jintao (since 15 March 2003) and Vice President ZENG Qinghong (since 15 March 2003) head of government: Premier WEN Jiabao (since 16 March 2003); Vice Premiers HUANG Ju (since 17 March 2003), WU Yi (17 March 2003), ZENG Peiyan (since 17 March 2003), and HUI Liangyu (since 17 March 2003) cabinet: State Council appointed by the National People's Congress (NPC) elections: president and vice president elected by the National People's Congress for five-year terms; elections last held 15-17 March 2003 (next to be held mid-March 2008); premier nominated by the president, confirmed by the National People's Congress election results: HU Jintao elected president by the Tenth National People's Congress with a total of 2,937 votes (4 delegates voted against him, 4 abstained, and 38 did not vote); ZENG Qinghong elected vice president by the Tenth National People's Congress with a total of 2,578 votes (177 delegates voted against him, 190 abstained, and 38 did not vote); 2 seats were vacant	chief of state: President Vladimir Vladimirovich PUTIN (acting president since 31 December 1999, president since 7 May 2000) head of government: Premier Mikhail Mikhaylovich KASYANOV (since 7 May 2000); Deputy Premiers Viktor Borisovich KHRISTENKO (since 31 May 1999), Aleksey Leonidovich KUDRIN (since 18 May 2000), Aleksey Vasilyevich GORDEYEV (since 20 May 2000), Boris Sergeyevich ALESHIN (since 24 April 2003), Galina Nikolayevna KARELOVA (since 24 April 2003), Vladimir Anatolyevich YAKOVLEV (since 16 June 2003) cabinet: Ministries of the Government or "Government" composed of the premier and his deputies, ministers, and selected other individuals; all are appointed by the president note: there is also a Presidential Administration (PA) that provides staff and policy support to the president, drafts presidential decrees, and coordinates policy among government agencies; a Security Council also reports directly to the president elections: president elected by popular vote for a four-year term; election last held 26 March 2000 (next to be held March 2004); note - no vice president; if the president dies in office, cannot exercise his powers because of ill health, is impeached, or resigns, the premier succeeds him; the premier serves as acting president until a new presidential election is held, which must be within three months; premier appointed by the president with the approval of the Duma election results: Vladimir Vladimirovich PUTIN elected president; percent of vote - Vladimir Vladimirovich PUTIN 52.9%, Gennadiy Andreyevich ZYUGANOV 29.2%, Grigoriy Alekseyevich YAVLINSKIY 5.8%
Exports	NA (2001)	NA (2001)
Exports - commodities	machinery and equipment; textiles and clothing, footwear, toys and sporting goods; mineral fuels	petroleum and petroleum products, natural gas, wood and wood products, metals, chemicals, and a wide variety of civilian and military manufactures
Exports - partners	US 21.5%, Hong Kong 18%, Japan 14.9%, South Korea 4.8% (2002)	Germany 7.5%, Italy 6.9%, Netherlands 6.7%, China 6.3%, US 6.1%, Ukraine 5.5%, Belarus 5.4%, Switzerland 5% (2002)
Fiscal year	calendar year	calendar year
Flag description	red with a large yellow five-pointed star and four smaller yellow five-pointed stars (arranged in a vertical arc toward the middle of the flag) in the upper hoist-side corner	three equal horizontal bands of white (top), blue, and red
GDP	purchasing power parity - $5.989 trillion (2002 est.)	purchasing power parity - $1.409 trillion (2002 est.)
GDP - composition by sector	agriculture: 15.2% industry and construction: 51.2% services: 33.6% (2001)	agriculture: 5.8% industry: 34.6% services: 59.6% (2002 est.)
GDP - per capita	purchasing power parity - $4,700 (2002 est.)	purchasing power parity - $9,700 (2002 est.)
GDP - real growth rate	8% (official data) (2002 est.)	4.3% (2002 est.)
Geographic coordinates	35 00 N, 105 00 E	60 00 N, 100 00 E
Geography - note	world's fourth-largest country (after Russia, Canada, and US); Mount Everest on the border with Nepal is the world's tallest peak;	largest country in the world in terms of area but unfavorably located in relation to major sea lanes of the world; despite its size, much of the country lacks proper soils and climates (either too cold or too dry) for agriculture; Mount Elbrus is Europe's tallest peak
Highways	total: 1,402,698 km paved: 314,204 km (with at least 16,314 km of expressways) unpaved: 1,088,494 km (2000)	total: 532,393 km paved: 358,833 km unpaved: 173,560 km (2000)
Household income or consumption by percentage share	lowest 10%: 2.4% highest 10%: 30.4% (1998)	lowest 10%: 5.9% highest 10%: 47% (2001)
Illicit drugs	major transshipment point for heroin produced in the Golden Triangle; growing domestic drug abuse problem; source country for chemical precursors and methamphetamine	limited cultivation of illicit cannabis and opium poppy and producer of methamphetamine, mostly for domestic consumption; government has active illicit crop eradication program; used as transshipment point for Asian opiates, cannabis, and Latin American cocaine bound for growing domestic markets, to a lesser extent Western and Central Europe, and occasionally to the US; major source of heroin precursor chemicals; corruption and organized crime are key concerns; heroin increasingly popular in domestic market
Imports	NA (2001)	NA (2001)
Imports - commodities	machinery and equipment, mineral fuels, plastics, iron and steel, chemicals	machinery and equipment, consumer goods, medicines, meat, sugar, semifinished metal products
Imports - partners	Japan 18.1%, Taiwan 10.5%, South Korea 9.7%, US 9.2%, Germany 5.6% (2002)	Germany 14.3%, Belarus 8.9%, Ukraine 7.1%, US 6.4%, China 5.2%, Italy 4.8%, Kazakhstan 4.3%, France 4.1% (2002)
Independence	221 BC (unification under the Qin or Ch'in Dynasty 221 BC; Qing or Ch'ing Dynasty replaced by the Republic on 12 February 1912; People's Republic established 1 October 1949)	24 August 1991 (from Soviet Union)
Industrial production growth rate	12.6% (2002 est.)	3.7% (2002 est.)
Industries	iron and steel, coal, machine building, armaments, textiles and apparel, petroleum, cement, chemical fertilizers, footwear, toys, food processing, automobiles, consumer electronics, telecommunications	complete range of mining and extractive industries producing coal, oil, gas, chemicals, and metals; all forms of machine building from rolling mills to high-performance aircraft and space vehicles; shipbuilding; road and rail transportation equipment; communications equipment; agricultural machinery, tractors, and construction equipment; electric power generating and transmitting equipment; medical and scientific instruments; consumer durables, textiles, foodstuffs, handicrafts
Infant mortality rate	total: 25.26 deaths/1,000 live births male: 24.91 deaths/1,000 live births female: 25.65 deaths/1,000 live births (2003 est.)	total: 19.51 deaths/1,000 live births male: 21.53 deaths/1,000 live births female: 17.4 deaths/1,000 live births (2003 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices)	-0.8% (2002 est.)	15% (2002 est.)
International organization participation	APEC, ARF (dialogue partner), AsDB, ASEAN (dialogue partner), BIS, CDB, ESCAP, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, LAIA (observer), MINURSO, MONUC, NAM (observer), OPCW, PCA, SCO, UN, UN Security Council, UNAMSIL, UNCTAD, UNESCO, IFC, UNHCR, UNIDO, AfDB, UNIKOM, UNITAR, UNMEE, UNMIBH, UNMOVIC, UNTSO, UNU, UPU, WCO, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO	APEC, ARF (dialogue partner), ASEAN (dialogue partner), BIS, BSEC, CBSS, CE, CERN (observer), CIS, EAPC, EBRD, ECE, ESCAP, G- 8, GEF, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt (signatory), ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, LAIA (observer), MINURSO, MONUC, NAM (guest), NSG, OAS (observer), OPCW, OSCE, PCA, PFP, SCO, UN, UN Security Council, UNAMSIL, UNCTAD, UNDP, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIKOM, UNITAR, UNMEE, UNMIBH, UNMIK, UNMISET, UNMOP, UNMOVIC, UNOMIG, UNTSO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO (observer), ZC
Internet Service Providers (ISPs)	3 (2000)	300 (June 2000)
Irrigated land	525,800 sq km (1998 est.)	46,630 sq km (1998 est.)
Judicial branch	Supreme People's Court (judges appointed by the National People's Congress); Local Peoples Courts (comprise higher, intermediate and local courts); Special Peoples Courts (primarily military, maritime, and railway transport courts)	Constitutional Court; Supreme Court; Superior Court of Arbitration; judges for all courts are appointed for life by the Federation Council on the recommendation of the president
Labor force	744 million (2001 est.)	71.8 million (2002 est.)
Labor force - by occupation	agriculture 50%, industry 22%, services 28% (2001 est.)	agriculture 12.3%, industry 22.7%, services 65% (2002 est.)
Land boundaries	total: 22,147.34 km border countries: Afghanistan 76 km, Bhutan 470 km, Burma 2,185 km, Hong Kong 30 km, India 3,380 km, Kazakhstan 1,533 km, North Korea 1,416 km, Kyrgyzstan 858 km, Laos 423 km, Macau 0.34 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	total: 19,990 km border countries: Azerbaijan 284 km, Belarus 959 km, China (southeast) 3,605 km, China (south) 40 km, Estonia 294 km, Finland 1,313 km, Georgia 723 km, Kazakhstan 6,846 km, North Korea 19 km, Latvia 217 km, Lithuania (Kaliningrad Oblast) 227 km, Mongolia 3,485 km, Norway 196 km, Poland (Kaliningrad Oblast) 206 km, Ukraine 1,576 km
Land use	arable land: 13.31% permanent crops: 1.2% other: 85.49% (1998 est.)	arable land: 7.46% permanent crops: 0.11% other: 92.43% (1998 est.)
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 groups entry)	Russian, other
Legal system	a complex amalgam of custom and statute, largely criminal law; rudimentary civil code in effect since 1 January 1987; new legal codes in effect since 1 January 1980; continuing efforts are being made to improve civil, administrative, criminal, and commercial law	based on civil law system; judicial review of legislative acts
Legislative branch	unicameral National People's Congress or Quanguo Renmin Daibiao Dahui (2,985 seats; members elected by municipal, regional, and provincial people's congresses to serve five-year terms) elections: last held NA December 2002-NA February 2003 (next to be held late 2007-NA February 2008) election results: percent of vote - NA%; seats - NA	bicameral Federal Assembly or Federalnoye Sobraniye consists of the Federation Council or Sovet Federatsii (178 seats; as of July 2000, members appointed by the top executive and legislative officials in each of the 89 federal administrative units - oblasts, krays, republics, autonomous okrugs and oblasts, and the federal cities of Moscow and Saint Petersburg; members serve four-year terms) and the State Duma or Gosudarstvennaya Duma (450 seats; 225 seats elected by proportional representation from party lists winning at least 5% of the vote, and 225 seats from single-member constituencies; members are elected by direct, popular vote to serve four-year terms) elections: State Duma - last held 7 December 2003 (next to be held NA December 2007) election results: State Duma - percent of vote received by parties clearing the 5% threshold entitling them to a proportional share of the 225 party list seats - United Russia 37.1%, KPRF 12.7%, LDPR 11.6%, Motherland 9.1%; seats by party - United Russia 222, KPRF 53, LDPR 38, Motherland 37, People's Party 19, Yabloko 4, Union of Rightist Forces 2, other 7, independents 65, repeat election required 3
Life expectancy at birth	total population: 72.22 years male: 70.33 years female: 74.28 years (2003 est.)	total population: 67.66 years male: 62.46 years female: 73.11 years (2003 est.)
Literacy	definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 86% male: 92.9% female: 78.8% (2003 est.)	definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 99.6% male: 99.7% female: 99.5% (2003 est.)
Location	Eastern Asia, bordering the East China Sea, Korea Bay, Yellow Sea, and South China Sea, between North Korea and Vietnam	Northern Asia (that part west of the Urals is included with Europe), bordering the Arctic Ocean, between Europe and the North Pacific Ocean
Map references	Asia	Asia
Maritime claims	contiguous zone: 24 NM continental shelf: 200 NM or to the edge of the continental margin territorial sea: 12 NM exclusive economic zone: 200 NM	continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation exclusive economic zone: 200 NM territorial sea: 12 NM
Merchant marine	total: 1,817 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 18,047,962 GRT/27,035,740 DWT ships by type: barge carrier 2, bulk 348, cargo 824, chemical tanker 28, combination bulk 10, combination ore/oil 2, container 150, liquefied gas 28, multi-functional large-load carrier 6, passenger 6, passenger/cargo 47, petroleum tanker 267, refrigerated cargo 26, roll on/roll off 21, short-sea passenger 42, specialized tanker 8, vehicle carrier 2 note: includes some foreign-owned ships registered here as a flag of convenience: Croatia 1, Germany 1, Hong Kong 16, Japan 2, Panama 2, South Korea 1, Spain 1, Taiwan 9, Tanzania 1, Turkey 1 (2002 est.)	total: 933 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 4,495,122 GRT/5,490,103 DWT ships by type: barge carrier 1, bulk 22, cargo 553, chemical tanker 12, combination bulk 21, combination ore/oil 36, container 30, multi-functional large-load carrier 1, passenger 38, passenger/cargo 3, petroleum tanker 167, refrigerated cargo 21, roll on/roll off 20, short-sea passenger 7, specialized tanker 1 note: includes some foreign-owned ships registered here as a flag of convenience: Belize 1, Cambodia 1, Cyprus 9, Denmark 1, Estonia 4, Greece 3, Honduras 1, Latvia 4, Lithuania 3, Moldova 3, Netherlands 1, South Korea 1, Turkey 18, Turkmenistan 2, Ukraine 10, UK 5, US 1 (2002 est.)
Military branches	People's Liberation Army (PLA): comprises ground forces, Navy (including naval infantry and naval aviation), Air Force, and II Artillery Corps (strategic missile force), People's Armed Police Force (internal security troops, nominally a state security body but included by the Chinese as part of the "armed forces" and considered to be an adjunct to the PLA), militia	Ground Forces, Navy, Air Forces; Airborne troops, Strategic Rocket Forces, and Military Space Forces are classified as independent combat arms, not subordinate to any of the three branches
Military expenditures - dollar figure	$55.91 billion (FY02)	$NA
Military expenditures - percent of GDP	4.3% (FY02)	NA%
Military manpower - availability	males age 15-49: 375,520,255 (2003 est.)	males age 15-49: 36 million (2003 est.)
Military manpower - fit for military service	males age 15-49: 206 million (2003 est.)	males age 15-49: 24 million (2003 est.)
Military manpower - military age	18 years of age (2003 est.)	18 years of age (2003)
Military manpower - reaching military age annually	males: 10,973,761 (2003 est.)	males: 1.243 million (2003 est.)
National holiday	Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Republic of China, 1 October (1949)	Russia Day, 12 June (1990)
Nationality	noun: Chinese (singular and plural) adjective: Chinese	noun: Russian(s) adjective: Russian
Natural hazards	frequent typhoons (about five per year along southern and eastern coasts); damaging floods; tsunamis; earthquakes; droughts; land subsidence	permafrost over much of Siberia is a major impediment to development; volcanic activity in the Kuril Islands; volcanoes and earthquakes on the Kamchatka Peninsula; spring floods and summer/autumn forest fires throughout Siberia and parts of European Russia
Natural resources	coal, iron ore, petroleum, natural gas, mercury, tin, tungsten, antimony, manganese, molybdenum, vanadium, magnetite, aluminum, lead, zinc, uranium, hydropower potential (world's largest)	wide natural resource base including major deposits of oil, natural gas, coal, and many strategic minerals, timber note: formidable obstacles of climate, terrain, and distance hinder exploitation of natural resources
Net migration rate	-0.23 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2003 est.)	0.91 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2003 est.)
Pipelines	gas 13,845 km; oil 15,143 km; refined products 3,280 km (2003)	gas 135,771 km; oil 70,833 km; refined products 11,536 km; water 23 km (2003)
Political parties and leaders	Chinese Communist Party or CCP [HU Jintao, General Secretary of the Central Committee]; eight registered small parties controlled by CCP	Communist Party of the Russian Federation or KPRF [Gennadiy Andreyevich ZYUGANOV]; Liberal Democratic Party of Russia or LDPR [Vladimir Volfovich ZHIRINOVSKIY]; Motherland Bloc (Rodina) [Sergey GLAZYEV and Dmitriy ROGOZIN]; People's Party [Gennadiy RAYKOV]; Union of Rightist Forces or SPS [Anatoliy Borisovich CHUBAYS, Yegor Timurovich GAYDAR, Irina Mutsuovna KHAKAMADA, Boris Yefimovich NEMTSOV]; United Russia [Boris Vyacheslavovich GRYZLOV]; Yabloko Party [Grigoriy Alekseyevich YAVLINSKIY]
Political pressure groups and leaders	no substantial political opposition groups exist, although the government has identified the Falungong sect and the China Democracy Party as potential rivals	NA
Population	1,286,975,468 (July 2003 est.)	144,526,278 (July 2003 est.)
Population below poverty line	10% (2001 est.)	25% (37622 est.)
Population growth rate	0.6% (2003 est.)	-0.3% (2003 est.)
Ports and harbors	Dalian, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Haikou, Huangpu, Lianyungang, Nanjing, Nantong, Ningbo, Qingdao, Qinhuangdao, Shanghai, Shantou, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Wenzhou, Xiamen, Xingang, Yantai, Zhanjiang (2001)	Aleksandrovsk-Sakhalinsky, Arkhangel'sk, Astrakhan', De-Kastri, Indigirskiy, Kaliningrad, Kandalaksha, Kazan', Khabarovsk, Kholmsk, Krasnoyarsk, Lazarev, Mago, Mezen', Moscow, Murmansk, Nakhodka, Nevel'sk, Novorossiysk, Onega, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, Rostov, Shakhtersk, Saint Petersburg, Sochi, Taganrog, Tuapse, Uglegorsk, Vanino, Vladivostok, Volgograd, Vostochnyy, Vyborg
Radio broadcast stations	AM 369, FM 259, shortwave 45 (1998)	AM 420, FM 447, shortwave 56 (1998)
Railways	total: 71,600 km standard gauge: 68,000 km 1.435-m gauge (14,600 km electrified) narrow gauge: 3,600 km 1.000-m and 0.750-m gauge local industrial lines (2002)	total: 87,157 km broad gauge: 86,200 km 1.520-m gauge (40,300 km electrified) narrow gauge: 957 km 1.067-m gauge (on Sakhalin Island) note:: an additional 30,000 km of non-common carrrier lines serve industries (2002)
Religions	Daoist (Taoist), Buddhist, Muslim 1%-2%, Christian 3%-4% note: officially atheist (2002 est.)	Russian Orthodox, Muslim, other
Sex ratio	at birth: 1.09 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.1 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.06 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.89 male(s)/female total population: 1.06 male(s)/female (2003 est.)	at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.94 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.48 male(s)/female total population: 0.88 male(s)/female (2003 est.)
Suffrage	18 years of age; universal	18 years of age; universal
Telephone system	general assessment: domestic and international services are increasingly available for private use; unevenly distributed domestic system serves principal cities, industrial centers, and many towns domestic: interprovincial fiber-optic trunk lines and cellular telephone systems have been installed; a domestic satellite system with 55 earth stations is in place international: satellite earth stations - 5 Intelsat (4 Pacific Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean), 1 Intersputnik (Indian Ocean region) and 1 Inmarsat (Pacific and Indian Ocean regions); several international fiber-optic links to Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Russia, and Germany (2000)	general assessment: the telephone system has undergone significant changes in the 1990s; there are more than 1,000 companies licensed to offer communication services; access to digital lines has improved, particularly in urban centers; Internet and e-mail services are improving; Russia has made progress toward building the telecommunications infrastructure necessary for a market economy; however, a large demand for main line service remains unsatisfied domestic: cross-country digital trunk lines run from Saint Petersburg to Khabarovsk, and from Moscow to Novorossiysk; the telephone systems in 60 regional capitals have modern digital infrastructures; cellular services, both analog and digital, are available in many areas; in rural areas, the telephone services are still outdated, inadequate, and low density international: Russia is connected internationally by three undersea fiber-optic cables; digital switches in several cities provide more than 50,000 lines for international calls; satellite earth stations provide access to Intelsat, Intersputnik, Eutelsat, Inmarsat, and Orbita systems
Telephones - main lines in use	135 million (2000)	30 million (1998)
Telephones - mobile cellular	65 million (January 2001)	19 million (January 2003)
Television broadcast stations	3,240 (of which 209 are operated by China Central Television, 31 are provincial TV stations and nearly 3,000 are local city stations) (1997)	7,306 (1998)
Terrain	mostly mountains, high plateaus, deserts in west; plains, deltas, and hills in east	broad plain with low hills west of Urals; vast coniferous forest and tundra in Siberia; uplands and mountains along southern border regions
Total fertility rate	1.7 children born/woman (2003 est.)	1.33 children born/woman (2003 est.)
Unemployment rate	urban unemployment roughly 10%; substantial unemployment and underemployment in rural areas (2002 est.)	7.9% plus considerable underemployment (2002)
Waterways	110,000 km (1999)	95,900 km (total routes in general use) note: routes with navigation guides serving the Russian River Fleet - 95,900 km; routes with night navigational aids - 60,400 km; man-made navigable routes - 16,900 km (January 1994)

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