CPC releases report ahead of 103rd founding anniversary

People visit the site of the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China in east China's Shanghai, Oct. 1, 2022. [Xinhua/Liu Ying]

BEIJING -- The Communist Party of China (CPC) released a statistical report on Sunday, one day ahead of its 103rd founding anniversary.

According to the report issued by the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, the CPC had more than 99.18 million members at the end of 2023, up by over 1.14 million from 2022.

The CPC had about 5.18 million primary-level organizations at the end of 2023, an increase of 111,000 compared with the previous year.

The CPC has maintained its great vitality and strong ability by focusing on the primary level, continuously reinforcing the foundations and shoring up weak links, and strengthening its organizational system and membership, the report says.

Data from the report shows that nearly 2.41 million people had joined the CPC in 2023, with 82.4 percent of them aged 35 or below.

Party membership has seen positive changes in terms of its composition. The report reveals that more than 55.78 million Party members, or 56.2 percent of the overall membership, held junior college degrees or above, 1.5 percentage points higher than the level recorded at the end of 2022.

By the end of 2023, the CPC had over 30.18 million female members, accounting for 30.4 percent of its total membership, up 0.5 percentage points from the previous year. The proportion of members from ethnic minority groups grew by 0.1 percentage points to 7.7 percent.

Workers and farmers continue to make up the majority of CPC members, accounting for 33 percent of all members.

Education and management of Party members continued to improve in 2023, with over 1.26 million study sessions held by Party organizations at all levels.

Also in 2023, the incentive and honorary mechanism for Party organizations and members continued to play its due role. During the year, 138,000 primary-level Party organizations and 693,000 Party members were commended for their excellence.

CPC organizations at the primary level continued to improve in 2023. At the end of the year, there were 298,000 Party committees, 325,000 general Party branches and about 4.6 million Party branches at the primary level in China.

In 2023, the team of leading Party officials continued to strengthen, facilitating China's rural revitalization drive. At the end of 2023, there were nearly 490,000 secretaries of Party organizations in villages, 44 percent of whom held junior college degrees or above.

In the meantime, the practice of assigning "first secretaries" to CPC village committees has continued. There were a total of 206,000 "first secretaries" working in villages at the end of 2023.