Total population: 36.90 million (2003).

Population growth rate: 4.29‰

Ethnicity

The Han ethnic group accounts for 99.4 percent of the total. Other groups include the Hui, the Manchu and the Mongolian. The population density is 174 persons per square km.

Education

In 2003, there were 40,300 graduate students enrolled in universities or research institutes. There were 499,700 undergraduates enrolled in 57 general universities inclusive of those universities run by non-state sectors. A total of 1,223 senior high schools had an enrollment of 1.19 million students. The province also boasts 2,090 junior high schools which had an enrollment of 2.21 million students, and 24,922 primary schools which had an enrollment of 4.01 million pupils in by the end of 2003. About 69.49 percent of the junior high school graduates continued their studies in senior high schools. But 98.59 percent of primary school-aged children went to school.