CPC membership exceeds 101 million ahead Party’s 105th anniversary; expert underscores Party building as fundamental guarantee for national development

Global Times

By Wang Qi Published: Jun 30, 2026 12:44 PM

The Communist Party of China (CPC) had more than 101.28 million members as of the end of 2025, up by nearly 1.01million from 2024, according to a report issued on Tuesday by the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee ahead of the Party’s 105th founding anniversary.

According to the report, the total number of Party members has maintained moderate growth in 2025, the composition of the Party membership has kept optimizing, education and management of Party members have been steadily strengthened, and primary-level Party organizations have become stronger and more robust.

Data from the report showed that the total number of Party members rose by 1 percent year-on-year in 2025, with over 2.086 million new members developed during the year. Among them, 51.4 percent were from the forefront of production and work, 54.8 percent held diplomas of junior college or above, and 84 percent of them aged 35 or below, per the report.

At the end of 2025, there were 20.864 million CPC membership applicants and 10.64 million active applicants for Party membership.

Besides, composition of Party membership has continuously optimized. The latest report revealed that at the end of 2025, about 59.77 million Party members, or 59 percent of the overall membership, held junior college degrees or above, 1.4 percentage points higher than the level recorded at the end of the previous year.

By the end of 2025, the CPC had more than 31.91 million female members, accounting for 31.5 percent of its total membership, up 0.6 percentage points from the previous year. The proportion of members from ethnic minority groups stood at 7.8 percent with a total number of about 7.88 million.

Workers and farmers remain the mainstay of the CPC membership, accounting for 32.4 percent of the total.

According to the report, education and management of Party members have continued to improve, with the number of Party members receiving training in 2025 rising by 3.7 percent compared with the previous year.

In 2025, Party organizations at all levels honored 108,000 advanced primary-level Party organizations, 583,000 outstanding CPC members and 165,000 million exemplary Party affairs workers. A total of 939,000 commemorative medals for CPC members with 50-year Party standing were conferred over the year.

Su Wei, a professor at the Party School of the CPC Chongqing Municipal Committee, told the Global Times on Tuesday that since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the development of CPC membership has balanced quantity with greater emphasis on quality. This adjustment is highly aligned with China’s strategic shift from rapid economic growth to high-quality development.

Against a backdrop of a growing pool of Party membership applicants and active candidates, the Party has enforced stricter criteria and standardized procedures for recruiting new members. The share of scientists, technicians and intellectuals joining the Party has kept climbing, steadily upgrading the overall structure of Party membership, according to Su.

According to the report, efforts were also made to strengthen primary-level Party organizations. At the end of 2025, there were 314,000 primary-level Party committees nationwide, an increase of 8,000 from 2024. The numbers of primary-level general Party branches and Party branches increased to 333,000 and over 4.78 million, respectively.

Village-level Party organizations have been further strengthened to fuel nationwide rural vitalization. By the end of 2025, China had nearly 483,000 village Party branch secretaries. Of them, 56.5 percent held a junior college degree or above, an increase of 8.9 percentage points from 2024.

“A closely woven organizational system constitutes the CPC’s unique institutional strength,” said Su, “With the centralized, unified leadership of the CPC Central Committee, and numerous basic-level Party organizations engaging the general public, the CPC has streamlined the full chain of governance.”

Such an extensive network also enables the Party to recruit outstanding pioneers from all sectors of society, he added.

In 2017, the CPC has given shape to the Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, a long-term guide to action that the Party must adhere to and develop. It sets out 14-point fundamental principles that underpin the endeavors to uphold and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, with the first principle being “ensuring Party leadership over all works” and the 14th on “exercising full and rigorous Party governance.”

“These two principles centered on Party building constitute the core thread of China’s national governance,” Su said, “All initiatives in economic, political, cultural, social and ecological development are underpinned by the Party’s leadership and advanced through comprehensive Party governance. This fully proves that strengthening Party building serves as the fundamental guarantee for advancing the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics and national development.”