According to statistics released in May 2006 by the Ministry of Civil Affairs of China (MCA), by the end of 2005 there are totally 320,000 social organizations in China, marks an increase of 10.7% when compared with the previous year.

It is reported that the areas that the organizations cover include education and culture, science and technology, health and sports, environmental protection and agricultural development, charity and community development. But how many organizations are working in each of these areas is not available in the statistics. However, in an earlier unpublished research paper (in mid-2005) by an university it is reported that there are 44.63% on social services, 42.5% on research and survey, 39.9% are trade associations, 34.62% on culture and arts, 24.5 on legal aid, 21.8% on development and policy consulting, and 20.9% on poverty alleviation¹. It is interesting to notice that many of the organization involving themselves in education.

By the same statistics from MCA, among the overall 320,000 organizations, there are 171,000 non-government organizations (people’s organization); 148,000 “privately-owned non-enterprise institutions”², and 975 foundations. And, there are more than 1,600 organizations working at the national level or in the cross-provinces pattern, more than 20,000 working within certain provinces, i.e. at the provincial level, and over 50,000 organizations at county level. Among all the organizations, there are more than 50,000 Professional organizations, over 40,000 academic associations, around 53,000 trade association, and more than 23,000 federations.

1. The figure does not add up as 100%, since some organizations are active in several areas. [↩]
2. A category when you register with the registration authority. [↩]