eserts 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: 13% permanent crops: 1% other: 86% (1998 est.)

Irrigated land: 525,800 sq km (1998 est.)

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

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

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

People China

Population: 1,284,303,705 (July 2002 est.)

Age structure: 24.3% (male 163,821,081; female 148,855,387) 15-64 years:
(male 43,834,528; female 49,382,568) (2002 est.)

Population growth rate: 0.87% (2002 est.)

Birth rate: 15.85 births/1,000 population (2002 est.)

Death rate: 6.77 deaths/1,000 population (2002 est.)

Net migration rate: -0.38 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002 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)/female total population: 1.06 male(s)/female (2002 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 27.25 deaths/1,000 live births (2002 est.)

Life expectancy at birth: 73.86 years (2002 est.) male: Total fertility
rate: 1.82 children born/woman (2002 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: less than 0.2% (2000-01 est.)

HIV/AIDS -