continental shelf: 200 NM or to the edge of the continental margin

territorial sea: 12 NM

Climate: extremely diverse; tropical in south to subarctic in north

Terrain: mostly mountains, high plateaus, deserts in west; plains,
deltas, and hills in east

Elevation extremes: lowest point: Turpan Pendi -154 m

highest point: Mount Everest 8,850 m (1999 est.)

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)

Land use: arable land: 10%

permanent crops: 0%

permanent pastures: 43%

forests and woodland: 14%

other: 33% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: 498,720 sq km (1993 est.)

Natural hazards: frequent typhoons (about five per year along
southern and eastern coasts); damaging floods; tsunamis;
earthquakes; droughts

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

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, Marine
Life Conservation

Geography - note: world's fourth-largest country (after Russia,
Canada, and US)

China People

Population: 1,273,111,290 (July 2001 est.)

Age structure: 0-14 years: 25.01% (male 166,754,893; female
151,598,117)

15-64 years: 67.88% (male 445,222,858; female 418,959,646)

65 years and over: 7.11% (male 42,547,296; female 48,028,480) (2001
est.)

Population growth rate: 0.88% (2001 est.)

Birth rate: 15.95 births/1,000 population (2001 est.)

Death rate: 6.74 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.)

Net migration rate: -0.39 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2001 est.)

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)/fema