Table - Population by Precipitation Zones

Data - Population
Population and Land Area in China by Precipitation Zones, Average for 1985 - 1988
Precipitation (mm)	Area (sqkm)	Area (% of Total)	Population (millions)	Population (% of Total)	Population Density
2000-4000	36,350	0.4	12	1.0	324
1000-2000	2,064,700	21.9	577	49.8	280
800-1000	544,000	5.8	148	12.8	272
600-800	986,075	10.4	214	18.5	217
400-600	1,845,250	19.5	170	14.7	92
200-400	1,229,225	13.0	24	2.1	20
< 200	2,742,900	29.0	14	1.2	5
Source: IIASA LUC-GIS
The table should be read as follows: About 50% of the Chinese population of 1992 (or 589 million) lived in some 20% of the total land area, in which average precipitation between 1958 and 1988 was more than 1000 mm per year. The population density in these areas was between 280 and 324 people per sqkm. Please do not mix up these results with the Cumulative Distribution of China's Land Area and Population Density (see this table). From the table on this page we can see that roughly 50% of the population lives in areas with a precipitation of more than 1000 mm per year (which make up some 20% of the total land area). The land areas are sorted by precipitation, even if they are not very densely populated. In the cumulative distribution table, however, the areas are sorted by population density, so that the table shows that 50% of the Chinese population lives in only some 8.2% of the land.

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Revision 2.0 (First revision published in 1999) - Copyright � 2011 by Gerhard K. Heilig. All rights reserved. (First revision: Copyright � 1999 by IIASA.)