At the end of 2008, there were 75.931 million Communist Party of China (CPC) members, 1.778 million more than in 2007.

There were 3.718 million grassroots CPC organizations, 55,000 more than the previous year. This included 179,000 grassroots Party Committees, 229,000 general Party branches and 3.31 million grassroots Party branches.

1. Composition of the Party membership

The gender, nationality and education level of CPC members: in 2008 there were 15.969 million female Party members, accounting for 21 percent of all CPC members. There were 4.944 million members from ethnic minorities, accounting for 6.5 percent of all CPC members. There were 25.833 million members with junior college level education or higher, accounting for 34 percent of all CPC members.


Chart 1
In terms of age groups (see chart 1), there were 17.855 million CPC members under the age of 35, 17.19 million members between the age of 36 and 45, 22.22 million members between the age of 46 and 59 and 18.666 million members above the age of 60.


Chart 2
In terms of when members joined the CPC (see chart 2), 733,000 members joined before the founding of the PRC, 7.996 million members joined between the founding of the PRC and the Cultural Revolution, 12.309 million members joined during the Cultural Revolution and 38.036 million members joined between the crushing of the Gang of Four and the 16th National Congress of the CPC. 16.856 million members have joined the CPC since the 16th National Congress.


Chart 3
In terms of occupations of members (see chart 3), 7.336 million CPC members were workers, 23.612 million were farmers, herdsmen and fishermen, and 6.208 million worked in Party and government offices. 16.876 million members worked as managing, professional and technical personnel in enterprises and public institutions, while 2.014 million were students. 14.282 million members were retired and 5.601 million worked in other occupations.

There were 3.582 million CPC members working in non-public economic sector enterprises, of whom 1.635 million were workers and 1.947 million worked as managing, professional and technical personnel.

2. Admission of new CPC members


Chart 4
In 2008, 2.807 million people joined the CPC, an increase of 25,000 people (see chart 4).


Chart 5
In terms of the gender, nationality, age group and education level of new members (see chart 5), in 2008 new members joining the CPC comprised 1.023 million women, accounting for 36.4 percent of new CPC members; 198,000 people from ethnic minorities, accounting for 7.1 percent of new CPC members; 2.268 million people under the age of 35, accounting for 80.8 percent; and 862,000 people with junior college level education or higher, accounting for 30.7 percent.


Chart 6
In terms of the occupations of new CPC members (see chart 6), 209,000 workers, 559,000 farmers, herdsmen and fishermen, and 123,000 personnel of Party and government offices were newly admitted into the Party, as well as 581,000 management, professional and technical personnel of enterprises and public institutions, 1.067 million students and 268,000 people from other occupations. The increase of students is the most noticeable, with an increase of 71,000 year-on-year. The ratio of newly-admitted students to total new members rose by 2.2 percentage points.

126,000 on-the-job workers in non-public economic sector enterprises were admitted into the Party, including 47,000 workers and 79,000 management, professional and technical personnel.

1.291 million people from the production and work frontline were admitted into the Party. 25,000 people were admitted under special circumstances such as earthquake and disaster relief.
　　
3. Inner-Party awards

In 2008, CPC organizations at all levels awarded a total of 311,000 advanced CPC organizations, 1.526 million outstanding CPC members and 246,000 outstanding Party affairs workers.

4. CPC membership applicants

By the end of 2008, 19.449 million people applied for CPC membership, including 9.901 million activists wishing to join the Party.

5. Organizations of the CPC

CPC local committees
There were a total of 3,224 CPC local committees, including 31 provincial Party committees (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government), 401 municipal (regions and prefectures) Party committees and 2,792 county Party committees (county-level cities or districts).

CPC organizations of government departments
There were a total of 86,000 CPC organizations (Party committees) of government departments at all levels.

CPC organizations at town, township, community and incorporated village levels
Of 34,324 towns and townships, 34,321 had set up CPC organizations. 78,000 of the 79,000 communities (neighborhood committees) had set up CPC organizations, and 605,000 of the 606,000 incorporated villages had set up CPC organizations.

CPC organizations of enterprises
Of 2.634 million enterprises, CPC organizations had been set up in 595,000 of 598,000 enterprises with appropriate conditions for the establishment of CPC organizations.

CPC organizations of public institutions
Of 578,000 public institutions, 464,000 had set up CPC organizations, accounting for 97.5 percent of all institutions which have the appropriate conditions to establish a CPC organization. All 1,622 higher learning institutions have set up CPC organizations. 7,765 of the 7,982 scientific research institutes had set up CPC organizations.

CPC organizations of non-governmental non-enterprise entities
Of 81,000 non-governmental non-enterprise entities, 12,000 had set up CPC organizations, accounting for 96.6 percent of all those which have the appropriate conditions to establish a CPC organization.

6. CPC organizations and village committees in incorporated villages

In the 605,000 incorporated villages where CPC organizations have been set up, there were a total of 2.036 million Party branch (general Party branches and Party committees) members. On average there were 3.4 committee members in each incorporated village.

(Note: There may be discrepancies in some totals and relative figures in this notice due to different standards in different units, and these figures have not been revised.)

By People's Daily Online