The CPC has over 100 million members for the first time! 
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China’s Communist Party had more than 100 million members by the end of 2024, an increase of about 1 per cent from the previous year, according to official data released ahead of the party’s 104th anniversary.
However, the rate of membership growth has continued to slow, with one insider attributing this to stricter screening by the Central Organisation Department (COD), the party’s top personnel office.
In keeping with tradition, the membership data for the previous year was released a day ahead of the July 1 celebrations marking the party’s founding in 1921.
According to the COD, the party had 100.27 million members by the end of 2024, a net increase of 1.09 million, or 1.1 per cent. That compares with 1.2 per cent growth in 2023 and 1.4 per cent in 2022, indicating continued slowing.
China’s ruling party continues to be the world’s No 2 political party by membership strength, after India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party – which claimed to have crossed 140 million members last week.
As of September 2024, the Democratic and Republican parties in the United States had 45.1 million and 36 million registered voters respectively, ranking them as the world’s fifth and sixth largest political parties by membership.
Unlike registered voters in Western political systems, who may only have a loose affiliation with their endorsed political party, including casting votes and making occasional donations, Communist Party members in China are subjected to much tighter regulations. This includes membership fees of up to 2 per cent of their monthly pay, which goes into the party funds, and regular attendance at party meetings and basic organisational “cell” activities.
An official source familiar with the matter said the party wanted to “get the right people from the start”, as it has been tightening the political screening process, resulting in more rejections and longer probation periods.
“This is not a numbers game. It is not the more the merrier,” the source said.
“[Investigations by] the anti-corruption agency show many corrupt officials had wrong motives when they joined the party. The organisation department at all levels has been instructed to weed out those who show early signs of little conviction and could easily fall prey to temptation.”
The more stringent screening has resulted in a longer waiting list as applications to join the party continue to grow, since membership is still widely regarded as a prerequisite for a meaningful political career.
By the end of 2024, there were 21.42 million applicants waiting in line, an increase of 440,000 applicants over 2023, according to the COD data.
The party also continues to attract more educated members, with nearly 58 per cent holding a college degree or higher in the 2024 data. But while their numbers increased by 2 million, the growth was smaller than the 2.13 million recorded in 2023.
Members are also getting markedly older, with the number of those aged 35 or below falling by 2.4 per cent to 23.04 million in 2024.
Those above 61 years of age totalled 28.97 million, making up 29 per cent of the total membership and marking a 4 per cent increase, more than double the increase recorded in 2023, when their total number was 27.87 million.
China has its fair share of non-political people and absolute tesla driving idiots, xhs definitely makes that clear that China is just another place
That’s kind of the point of a communist party in a DOTP. It exists to facilitate the democratic political engagement of the bulk of the populace who, in any normal society under normal circumstances, are not particularly politically active.
What dotp mean? Demoxracy of the people?
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Tbh democracy of the people isn’t too far off lmao
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Anarchist i reckon?
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Given that population growth has been declining in China for 4-5 decades, it seems obvious that the party membership growth would slow too.
No, growth in the party is slowly intentionally because the party was taking on too many people who weren’t really “communists” in any political sense, and were just using the party to get ahead. Crendentialism basically. So the party tightened up requirements to entry, making it far more difficult to actually join to weed out the people who were doing so just to like join a new social club to socially climb.
The much more difficult work is purging or bringing into alignment already-existing party members with stronger commitments to liberalism than communism.
China’s ruling party continues to be the world’s No 2 political party by membership strength, after India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party – which claimed to have crossed 140 million members last week.
I assume they let anyone in. How many members has the CPC rejected in the last 40 years?
Probably quite a few, but it’s more likely most people don’t bother trying to considering the process to enter the CPC is fairly strict; if I remember you have to undertake rigorous party study sessions, pass examinations and background checks, and have an existing party member be your mentor throughout the whole process. And this can take at least several years before you’re finally admitted.
According to this SCMP article around 32 000 people left the CPC in 2010, but the party official who quoted this number didn’t give a breakdown of it.
However, the rate of membership growth has continued to slow, with one insider attributing this to stricter screening by the Central Organisation Department (COD), the party’s top personnel office…
An official source familiar with the matter said the party wanted to “get the right people from the start”, as it has been tightening the political screening process, resulting in more rejections and longer probation periods.
I don’t see this as a bad thing. I’ve talked with CPC members who cared little for Marxism and were basically just glorified public servants. Nice people though.
Yeah? Sounds impressive, but how many members can they bottom?
