Matchup file

China vs India

127 shared metrics.

ChinaLeads in 79

vs127 shared

IndiaLeads in 48

Turn the comparison into a round

Think you can spot the next winner?

China leads by 31 metrics. Use the same instinct in a quick real-data brawl.

Play this matchup Biggest Gaps

Country briefing

What matters for both sides

Short real-world notes so the comparison reads like more than a stat strip.

China

Quick notes before you compare the numbers.

Identity

Formal name: People's Republic of China.

CIA 2026

Curated stat

China's population began shrinking in 2022, its first annual decline in about six decades.

World Bank

India

Quick notes before you compare the numbers.

Identity

Formal name: Republic of India.

CIA 2026

Curated stat

India overtook China in 2023 to become the world's most populous country.

UN DESA 2023

Analysis

China leads in 79 of 127 shared metrics, while India leads in 48.

China's Domestic Patents is 53.3x that of India (1.43M vs 26.3K).

China's All-Time Olympic Gold Medals is 32.0x that of India (330 gold medals vs 10 gold medals).

China's All-Time Olympic Medals is 19.0x that of India (819 medals vs 41 medals).

China's Broadband Access (%) is 15.4x that of India (45 per 100 people vs 2.7 per 100 people).

China's Shipping Traffic is 12.6x that of India (268.99M vs 19.72M).

Key Comparisons

Domestic PatentsChina leads

China

1.43M

India

26.3K

All-Time Olympic Gold MedalsChina leads

China

330 gold medals

India

10 gold medals

All-Time Olympic MedalsChina leads

China

819 medals

India

41 medals

Broadband Access (%)China leads

China

45 per 100 people

India

2.7 per 100 people

Shipping TrafficChina leads

China

268.99M

India

19.72M

Meat Consumption per PersonChina leads

China

1.6 per 1M people

India

0.22 per 1M people

628% higher

Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors - Open Database License (ODbL)

Researchers

China

1.8K per 1M

India

259.26 per 1M

613% higher

EV Chargers per 100,000 People

China

China

8.3K

India

1.9K

347% higher

Comparison of China and India across 127 metrics
				Winner
Domestic Patents	1.43M	26.3K	5331% higher	China
All-Time Olympic Gold Medals	330 gold medals	10 gold medals	3200% higher	China
All-Time Olympic Medals	819 medals	41 medals	1898% higher	China
Broadband Access (%)	45 per 100 people	2.7 per 100 people	1539% higher	China
Shipping Traffic	268.99M	19.72M	1264% higher	China
Meat Consumption per Person	60.6 kg/person/yr	6.1 kg/person/yr	897% higher	China
Credit Card Ownership	46.03% of adults	4.6% of adults	890% higher	China
Beer Consumption	1.1 L/person/yr	0.13 L/person/yr	765% higher	China
Health Spending Per Capita	$672.45	$79.52	746% higher	China
McDonald's Outlets per Million PeopleSource: © OpenStreetMap contributors - Open Database License (ODbL)	1.6 per 1M people	0.22 per 1M people	628% higher	China
Researchers	1.8K per 1M	259.26 per 1M	613% higher	China
EV Chargers per 100,000 PeopleSource: © OpenStreetMap contributors - Open Database License (ODbL)	0.22 per 100k people	0.03 per 100k people	544% higher	China
Electric Generating Capacity	2.95B kW	499.14M kW	491% higher	China
Electricity Use (Per Capita)	6.5K kWh/person	1.2K kWh/person	452% higher	China
GNI Per Capita	$13,660	$2,650	415% higher	China
Seafood Consumption per Person	40.33 kg/person/yr	7.9 kg/person/yr	411% higher	China
Electricity Generation	10.1K TWh	2.1K TWh	390% higher	China
GDP (Nominal)	$18,743,803,170,827.2	$3,909,891,533,858.08	379% higher	China
Foreign Patents	159.0K	35.3K	350% higher	China
Merchant Fleet Size	8.3K	1.9K	347% higher	China
Scientific Publications	898.9K	207.4K	333% higher	China
Doctors (per 1,000)	3.1 per 1k	0.72 per 1k	332% higher	China
Total CO2 Emissions	13.1K Mt CO2e	3.2K Mt CO2e	316% higher	China
R&D Spending (% GDP)	2.6% of GDP	0.65% of GDP	296% higher	China
CO2 Per Capita	8.7 t/person/yr	2.2 t/person/yr	293% higher	China
Energy Use (Per Capita)	2.9K kg oil eq/person	754.18 kg oil eq/person	278% higher	China
Air Passengers	619.22M	180.42M	243% higher	China
Land Area	9.39M km²	2.97M km²	216% higher	China
Hospital Beds (per 1,000)	5.0 per 1k	1.6 per 1k	213% higher	China
Forest Area	2.26M km²	729.6K km²	209% higher	China
ATMs per 100,000 Adults	72.03 per 100k	24.96 per 100k	189% higher	China
Firms with Female Top Manager	19.6% of firms	6.8% of firms	186% higher	China
Border Neighbors	16	6.0	167% higher	China
GDP Per Capita (PPP)	$27,104.87	$11,159.99	143% higher	China
Railway Length	150.0K km	65.6K km	129% higher	China
University Enrollment Rate	76.88%	34.42%	123% higher	China
Wind Electricity Share	10.73%	5.0%	115% higher	China
Coastline Length	14.5K km	7.0K km	107% higher	China
Elderly Population (%)	14.67%	7.1%	105% higher	China
Nurses & Midwives	3.5 per 1k	1.7 per 1k	104% higher	China
Protected Land (%)	15.6%	7.7%	103% higher	China
Firms Asked for Bribes	0.14% of firms	27.23% of firms	99% lower	India
Firms Making Informal Payments	0.29% of firms	39.33% of firms	99% lower	India
Inflation Rate	0.20%	5.0%	96% lower	India
Women in Parliament (%)	26.54%	13.65%	94% higher	China
Renewable Energy (%)	17.47%	9.1%	91% higher	China
Freedom of Expression Index	0.04	0.46	90% lower	India
Urban Population (%)	65.89%	35.38%	86% higher	China
FDI Inflows (% GDP)	0.10% of GDP	0.69% of GDP	86% lower	India
Liberal Democracy Index	0.04	0.26	85% lower	India
Digital Payments Used	88.72% of adults	48.46% of adults	83% higher	China
Infant Mortality	4.5 per 1k births	24.5 per 1k births	82% lower	India
Homicide Rate	0.50 per 100k	2.8 per 100k	82% lower	India
Firms Hit by Power Outages	3.7% of firms	19.91% of firms	82% lower	India
Electoral Democracy Index	0.07	0.38	81% lower	India
Minimum Paid Vacation Days	5.0 days/yr	25 days/yr	80% lower	India
Airports	571	318	80% higher	China
Capital Elevation	43 m	216 m	80% lower	India
Child Mortality	6.2 per 1k births	27.7 per 1k births	78% lower	India
Nobel Laureates Born per Million People	0.01 per 1M people	0.00 per 1M people	75% higher	China
Population Density	150.26 /km²	483.68 /km²	69% lower	India
Mobile Subscriptions (%)	132 per 100 people	79 per 100 people	67% higher	China
Internet Users (%)	92%	56%	64% higher	China
Teen Birth Rate	5.2 per 1k	14.06 per 1k	63% lower	India
Health Spending (% GDP)	5.4% of GDP	3.3% of GDP	62% higher	China
Land Border Length	22.5K km	13.9K km	62% higher	China
Milk Consumption per Person	32.66 kg/person/yr	84.5 kg/person/yr	61% lower	India
Railway Network	109.8K km	68.1K km	61% higher	China
Nuclear Electricity Share	4.9%	3.1%	58% higher	China
Renewable Energy (%)	15.2%	34.9%	56% lower	India
Water Stress (%)	20.21%	44.78%	55% lower	India
Birth Rate	7.3 per 1k	15.91 per 1k	54% lower	India
Insufficient Physical Activity	23.84% of adults	49.42% of adults	52% lower	India
Official Languages Count	1.0	2.0	50% lower	India
Big Mac Price	$3.66	$2.51	46% higher	China
Food Waste per Person	141.64 kg/person/yr	97.34 kg/person/yr	46% higher	China
Inequality (Gini)	36	25.5	41% higher	China
High-Tech Exports (%)	26.28%	18.57%	41% higher	China
Fertility Rate	1.2 children/woman	2.0 children/woman	40% lower	India
Median Age	39.1 years	28.1 years	39% higher	China
UNESCO World Heritage Sites	60 sites	44 sites	36% higher	China
Youth Population (%)	16.01%	24.62%	35% lower	India
Life Evaluation Score	6.1 pts	4.5 pts	34% higher	China
Vehicles per 1,000 People	212.35 per 1k people	158.15 per 1k people	34% higher	China
Time Zones Count	4.0 time zones	3.0 time zones	33% higher	China
Suicide Rate	8.9 per 100k	12.56 per 100k	29% lower	India
Air Pollution (PM2.5)	34.81 µg/m³	48.39 µg/m³	28% lower	India
Imports (% GDP)	17.18% of GDP	23.49% of GDP	27% lower	India
Military Spending	1.7% of GDP	2.3% of GDP	25% lower	India
Coal Electricity Share	54.35%	70.82%	23% lower	India
GDP Growth Rate	5.0%	6.5%	23% lower	India
Electricity Carbon Intensity	525.34 gCO2/kWh	670.13 gCO2/kWh	22% lower	India
Political Corruption Index	0.55	0.68	19% lower	India
Road Traffic Death Rate	17.4 per 100k	14.6 per 100k	19% higher	China
Solar Electricity Share	11.1%	9.4%	18% higher	China
Adult Literacy Rate	96.74%	81.7%	18% higher	China
Armed Forces Personnel	2.54M	3.07M	17% lower	India
Sanitation Access (%)	97.27%	83.38%	17% higher	China
Human Development Index	0.80	0.69	16% higher	China
Obesity Rate	8.2%	7.2%	14% higher	China
Hypertension Prevalence	27.3% of adults	31.3% of adults	13% lower	India
Tax Revenue (% GDP)	7.6% of GDP	6.7% of GDP	13% higher	China
Water Withdrawal	568.48 B m³	647.5 B m³	12% lower	India
Alcohol Consumption	4.6 L/adult/yr	4.1 L/adult/yr	12% higher	China
Women's Political Empowerment	0.59	0.66	11% lower	India
Spirits Consumption	2.5 L/person/yr	2.3 L/person/yr	10% higher	China
Corruption Perceptions Index	43 pts	39 pts	10% higher	China
Unemployment Rate	4.6%	4.2%	9% higher	China
Irrigated Land	690.1K km²	754.6K km²	9% lower	India
Agricultural Land (%)	55.43%	60.06%	8% lower	India
Death Rate	8.0 per 1k	8.7 per 1k	8% lower	India
Life Expectancy	78.0 years	72.0 years	8% higher	China
Tobacco Use Prevalence	22.7% of adults	24.4% of adults	7% lower	India
Dependency Ratio	44.24% of working-age pop.	46.56% of working-age pop.	5% lower	India
Exports (% GDP)	20.02% of GDP	21.16% of GDP	5% lower	India
Smoking Rate	23.4%	24.3%	4% lower	India
Highest Elevation	8.8K m	8.6K m	3% higher	China
Forest Coverage (%)	24.03%	24.54%	2% lower	India
Education Spending (% GDP)	4.0% of GDP	4.1% of GDP	2% lower	India
Population	1.41B	1.42B	1% lower	India
Average Weekly Work Hours	46.1 hrs/week	45.45 hrs/week	1% higher	China
Electricity Access (%)	100%	99.5%	1% higher	China
Youth Unemployment Rate	15.79% of youth labor force	16.02% of youth labor force	1% lower	India
Government Debt (% GDP)	47% of GDP	46.5% of GDP	1% higher	China
Lowest Elevation	-154 m	0 m	ranked lower	India
Can Raise Emergency Money	95.1% of adults	95.18% of adults	equal	India
Current Account Balance (% of GDP)	3.7% of GDP	-0.9% of GDP	ranked higher	China

Build a Matchup

Country A

Country B

Next move

Pick the next country or jump back in.

Play this matchup

China India

Analysis

China leads in 79 of 127 shared metrics, while India leads in 48.

China's Domestic Patents is 53.3x that of India (1.43M vs 26.3K).

China's All-Time Olympic Gold Medals is 32.0x that of India (330 gold medals vs 10 gold medals).

China's All-Time Olympic Medals is 19.0x that of India (819 medals vs 41 medals).

China's Broadband Access (%) is 15.4x that of India (45 per 100 people vs 2.7 per 100 people).

China's Shipping Traffic is 12.6x that of India (268.99M vs 19.72M).

Key Comparisons

Domestic PatentsChina leads

China

1.43M

India

26.3K

All-Time Olympic Gold MedalsChina leads

China

330 gold medals

India

10 gold medals

All-Time Olympic MedalsChina leads

China

819 medals

India

41 medals

Broadband Access (%)China leads

China

45 per 100 people

India

2.7 per 100 people

Shipping TrafficChina leads

China

268.99M

India

19.72M

Meat Consumption per PersonChina leads

China

60.6 kg/person/yr

India

6.1 kg/person/yr

Domestic Patents

1.43M

26.3K

All-Time Olympic Gold Medals

330 gold medals

10 gold medals

All-Time Olympic Medals

819 medals

41 medals

Broadband Access (%)

45 per 100 people

2.7 per 100 people

Shipping Traffic

268.99M

19.72M

Meat Consumption per Person

60.6 kg/person/yr

6.1 kg/person/yr

Credit Card Ownership

46.03% of adults

4.6% of adults

Beer Consumption

1.1 L/person/yr

0.13 L/person/yr

Health Spending Per Capita

$672.45

$79.52

1.6 per 1M people

0.22 per 1M people

Researchers

1.8K per 1M

259.26 per 1M

0.22 per 100k people

0.03 per 100k people

Electric Generating Capacity

2.95B kW

499.14M kW

Electricity Use (Per Capita)

6.5K kWh/person

1.2K kWh/person

GNI Per Capita

$13,660

$2,650

Seafood Consumption per Person

40.33 kg/person/yr

7.9 kg/person/yr

Electricity Generation

10.1K TWh

2.1K TWh

GDP (Nominal)

$18,743,803,170,827.2

$3,909,891,533,858.08

Foreign Patents

159.0K

35.3K

Merchant Fleet Size

8.3K

1.9K

China vs India

Think you can spot the next winner?

What matters for both sides

China

India

Analysis

Key Comparisons

All Metrics

Domestic Patents

All-Time Olympic Gold Medals

All-Time Olympic Medals

Broadband Access (%)

Shipping Traffic

Meat Consumption per Person

Credit Card Ownership

Beer Consumption

Health Spending Per Capita

McDonald's Outlets per Million People

Researchers

EV Chargers per 100,000 People

Electric Generating Capacity

Electricity Use (Per Capita)

GNI Per Capita

Seafood Consumption per Person

Electricity Generation

GDP (Nominal)

Foreign Patents

Merchant Fleet Size

Scientific Publications

Doctors (per 1,000)

Total CO2 Emissions

R&D Spending (% GDP)

CO2 Per Capita

Energy Use (Per Capita)

Air Passengers

Land Area

Hospital Beds (per 1,000)

Forest Area

ATMs per 100,000 Adults

Firms with Female Top Manager

Border Neighbors

GDP Per Capita (PPP)

Railway Length

University Enrollment Rate

Wind Electricity Share

Coastline Length

Elderly Population (%)

Nurses & Midwives

Protected Land (%)

Firms Asked for Bribes

Firms Making Informal Payments

Inflation Rate

Women in Parliament (%)

Renewable Energy (%)

Freedom of Expression Index

Urban Population (%)

FDI Inflows (% GDP)

Liberal Democracy Index

Digital Payments Used

Infant Mortality

Homicide Rate

Firms Hit by Power Outages

Electoral Democracy Index

Minimum Paid Vacation Days

Airports

Capital Elevation

Child Mortality

Nobel Laureates Born per Million People

Population Density

Mobile Subscriptions (%)

Internet Users (%)

Teen Birth Rate

Health Spending (% GDP)

Land Border Length

Milk Consumption per Person

Railway Network

Nuclear Electricity Share

Renewable Energy (%)

Water Stress (%)

Birth Rate