List of ethnic groups in China

The Han Chinese are by far the largest ethnic group in Mainland China, comprising 91.5% of the country's population of around 1.2 billion in 2010. There are 55 other minority ethnic groups in present-day China, representing approximately 105 million people, or around 8% of China's population. They are mostly concentrated around border regions.

The main ethnic minorities in China are the Zhuang (19.6 million), Hui (11.4 million), Uyghurs (11 million), Miao (11 million), Manchus (10.4 million), Yi (9.8 million), Tujia (9.6 million), Tibetans (7 million), Mongols (6.3 million), Buyei (3.5 million), Dong (3.5 million), Yao (3.3 million), Bai (2 million), Koreans (1.7 million), Hani (1.7 million), Li (1.6 million), Kazakhs (1.5 million), and Dai (1.2 million). In addition, there are a number of unrecognized ethnic groups which together comprise over 730,000 people. Collectively, the ethnic groups of China are referred to as the Zhonghua minzu ().

Hong Kong and Macau are special administrative regions within China, and as such, do not use the ethnic classification system used on the Mainland. Hong Kong and Macau are both majority Han Chinese with ethnic minorities of Western European (mainly English and Portuguese), Southeast Asian (mainly Filipinos, Indonesians, and Vietnamese), and South Asian (in the case of Hong Kong) origin.

Officially recognized groups Officially recognized ethnic groups receive or have received certain benefits over Han Chinese under the regional ethnic autonomy system, including affirmative action, exemptions from the one-child policy, designated seats in political organs and government support to preserve their culture. Ethnic minority autonomous areas receive additional state subsidies. Languages of officially recognized minorities are used in official government documents.

Soon after the establishment of the People's Republic of China, 39 ethnic groups were recognized by the first national census in 1954. This further increased to 54 by the second national census in 1964, with the Lhoba people added in 1965. The last change was the addition of the Jino people in 1979, bringing the number of recognized ethnic groups to the current 56. The following are the 56 ethnic groups (listed by population) officially recognized by the People's Republic of China. HanHA91.1098%1,284,446,3891,220,844,5201,139,773,0081,042,482,1871954ZhuangZH1.3801%19,568,54616,926,38116,187,16315,489,6301954UygurUG0.8352%11,774,53810,069,3468,405,4167,214,4311954HuiHU0.8070%11,377,91410,586,0879,828,1268,602,9781954MiaoMH0.7851%11,067,9299,426,0078,945,5387,398,0351954ManMA0.7394%10,423,30310,387,95810,708,4649,821,1801954YiYI0.6973%9,830,3278,714,3937,765,8586,572,1731954TujiaTJ0.6801%9,587,7328,353,9128,037,0145,704,2231964Zang / TibetanZA0.5008%7,060,7316,282,1875,422,9544,593,3301954MongolMG0.4461%6,290,2045,981,8405,827,8084,806,8491954BuyeiBY0.2537%3,576,7522,870,0342,973,2172,545,0591954DongDO0.2480%3,495,9932,879,9742,962,9112,514,0141954YaoYA0.2347%3,309,3412,796,0032,638,8782,134,0131954BaiBA0.1484%2,091,5431,933,5101,861,8951,594,8271954HaniHN0.1229%1,733,1661,660,9321,440,0291,253,9521954Chosen / KoreanCS0.1207%1,702,4791,830,9291,929,6961,920,5971954LiLI0.1136%1,602,1041,463,0641,248,0221,110,9001954KazakKZ0.1108%1,562,5181,462,5881,248,0221,110,9001954DaiDA0.0943%1,329,9851,261,3111,159,2311,025,1281954LisuLS0.0541%762,296702,839635,101574,8561954SheSH0.0529%746,385708,651710,039630,3781964DongxiangDX0.0550%774,947621,500513,826373,8721954GelaoGL0.0481%677,521550,746579,744437,9971964LahuLH0.0354%499,167485,966453,765411,4761954SuiSU0.0352%495,928411,847407,000345,9931954VaVA0.0306%430,997429,709396,709351,9741954NaxiNX0.0230%323,767326,295309,477278,0091954QiangQI0.0222%312,981309,576306,476198,2521954TuTU0.0200%281,928289,565241,593191,6241954MulaoML0.0197%277,233216,257207,464159,3281964KirgizKG0.0145%204,402186,708160,875141,5491954XibeXB0.0136%191,911190,481189,357172,8471954SalarSL0.0117%165,159130,607104,52187,6971954JingpoJP0.0114%160,471147,828132,158119,2091954DaurDU0.0094%132,299131,992132,747121,3571964BlangBL0.0090%127,345119,63991,89182,2801964MaonanMN0.0088%124,092101,192107,18471,9681964TajikTA0.0036%50,89651,06941,05633,5381954PumiPM0.0032%45,01242,86133,62829,6571964AchangAC0.0031%43,77539,55533,95427,7081964NuNU0.0026%36,57537,52328,77027,1231964EwenkiEW0.0025%34,61730,87530,54526,3151954GinGI0.0024%33,11228,19922,58418,9151964JinoJN0.0018%26,02523,14320,89918,0211979BonanBN0.0017%24,43420,07416,50512,2121954DeangDE0.0016%22,35420,55617,93515,4621964RussRS0.0011%16,13615,39315,63113,5041954YugurYG0.0010%14,70614,37813,74712,2971954UzbekUZ0.0009%12,74210,56912,42314,5021954MonbaMB0.0008%11,14310,5618,9287,4751964OroqenOR0.0007%9,1688,6598,2166,9651954DerungDR0.0005%7,3106,9307,4315,8161964HezhenHZ0.0004%5,3735,3544,6644,2451964LhobaLB0.0003%4,2373,6822,9702,3121965TatarTT0.0003%3,5443,5564,8954,8731954GaoshanGS0.0002%3,4794,0094,4882,9091954(Undistinguished)none0.0593%836,488640,101734,438749,341—(Naturalized citizens)none0.0012%16,5951,4489413,421—

Unlisted ethnic groups

The following ethnic groups living in China are not recognized by the Chinese government: Äynu people – classified as Uyghurs Altai people – classified as Mongols Bajia () Chuanqing people – classified as Han Deng people Fuyu Kyrgyz people – classified as Kyrgyz Gejia people – classified as Miao Hu people – classified as Bulang Ili Turk people – classified as Uzbek Jewish people – classified as Han Khmu people – classified as Bulang Kucong Macanese people, mixed race Catholic Portuguese speakers who lived in Macau since 16th century of various ethnic origins Mảng people Mosuo – classified as Naxi (木佬人) – classified as Mulao Sangkong people – classified as Hani Sherpa people – classified as Tibetan Tanka people, including Fuzhou Tanka – classified as Han Tebbu people Then people – classified as Maonan Tuvans – classified as Mongols Utsuls – classified as Hui Waxiang people Yamato people and Ryukyuan people, primarily Japanese settlers that remained in China after the Second Sino-Japanese War, which mostly were women and orphaned children

During the Fifth National Population Census of the People's Republic of China held in 2000, 734,438 people on the mainland were recorded as belonging to "undistinguished ethnic groups"—of these, 97% resided in Guizhou.第五次人口普查数据(2000年). 表1—6. 省、自治区、直辖市分性别、民族的人口 (Fifth National Population Census of the People's Republic of China (2000). Table 1-6: Population of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities by ethnicity).

Gallery

List of ethnic groups in China

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