China Counts...And Counts

By Jackson Dykman

Totaling up more than a billion people is just the beginning. There's steel production (up 25%), makeup sales (up 19%) and the number of "large domestic animals" that suffered from a shortage of drinking water last year (29.36 million). From rice harvests to sports medals, China's new census quantifies all the ways a poor country is getting rich. The U.S. leads the economic race, but China is sprinting to catch up. [This article consists of a complex diagram. Please see hardcopy of magazine.] CHINA pop. 1,314,480,000 U.S. pop. 301,325,000

GDP [CHINA] $2.7 trillion $2,054 per person

[U.S.] $13.2 trillion $43,950 per person Taxes collected [CHINA] $486 billion $370 per person

[U.S.] $2.5 trillion $8,297 per person

Balance of trade [CHINA] $177.5 billion surplus

[U.S.] $225 billion deficit

Cell phone users [CHINA] 461 million 35 per 100 people

[U.S.] 219 million 73 per 100 people

Cable television subscribers [CHINA] 139 million 11 per 100 people

[U.S.] 110 million 37 per 100 people Airline passengers [CHINA] 160 million

[U.S.] 658 million Foreign visitors [CHINA] 22 million 9% from the U.S.

[U.S.] 51 million 1% from China

Private cars [CHINA] 11.5 million 9 per 100 people

[U.S.] 136.4 million 450 per 1,000 people

Deaths in traffic conditions [CHINA] 89,455

[U.S.] 48,433 Practicing doctors [CHINA] 1.97 million 15 per 10,000 people

[U.S.] 745,000 25 per 10,000 people

Feature films produced [CHINA] 330

[U.S.] 699