The following is a list of ethnic groups in China where "China" is taken to mean areas controlled by either of the two states using "China" in their formal names, the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC, " Taiwan").

The Han Chinese are the largest ethnic group, where some 91.59% of the population was classified as Han Chinese (~1.2 billion). Besides the majority Han Chinese, 55 other "nationalities" or ethnic groups are recognised in mainland China by the PRC government, numbering approximately 105 million people, mostly concentrated in the northwest, north, northeast, south, and southwest but with some in central interior areas.

The major minority ethnic groups are Zhuang (16.1 million), Manchu (10.6 million), Hui (9.8 million), Miao (8.9 million), Uyghur (8.3 million), Tujia (8 million), Yi (7.7 million), Mongol (5.8 million), Tibetan (5.4 million), Buyei (2.9 million), Dong (2.9 million), Yao (2.6 million), Korean (1.9 million), Bai (1.8 million), Hani (1.4 million), Kazakh (1.2 million), Li (1.2 million), and Dai (1.1 million).

In order of population, this is the list of the 56 ethnic groups in China that are officially recognized by the government of the People's Republic of China. Members of several ethnic groups reside in Hong Kong and Macau, but due to the long separation from China, many of these ethnic groups are generally unknown to the Special Administrative Regions (of People's Republic of China) of Hong Kong and of Macau.

!Standard Romanization/CodeA!!Pinyin!!S. Chinese!!T. Chinese!!PopulationB
Han	Han/HA	H??n Z??	??????	??????	1,230,117,207
Zhuang	Zhuang/ZH	Zhu??ng Z??	??????	??????	16,178,811
Manchu	Man/MA	M??n Z??	??????	??????	10,682,263
Hui1	Hui/HU	Hu?? Z??	??????	??????	9,816,802
Miao2	Miao/MH	Mi??o Z??	??????	??????	8,940,116
Uyghurs	Uyghur/UG	W??iw????r Z??	????????????	????????????	8,399,393
Tujia	Tujia/TJ	T??ji?? Z??	?????????	?????????	8,028,133
Yi	Yi/YI	Y?? Z??	??????	??????	7,762,286
Mongols	Mongol/MG	M??ngg?? Z??	?????????	?????????	5,813,947
Tibetan3	Zang/ZA	Z??ng Z??	??????	??????	5,416,021
Buyei	Buyei/BY	B??y?? Z??	?????????	?????????	2,971,460
Dong	Dong/DO	D??ng Z??	??????	??????	2,960,293
Yao	Yao/YA	Y??o Z??	??????	??????	2,637,421
Korean	Chosen/CS	Ch??oxi??n Z??	?????????	?????????	1,923,842
Bai	Bai/BA	B??i Z??	??????	??????	1,858,063
Hani	Hani/HN	H??n?? Z??	?????????	?????????	1,439,673
Kazakh	Kazak/KZ	H??s??k?? Z??	????????????	????????????	1,420,458
Li	Li/LI	L?? Z??	??????	??????	1,247,814
Dai4	Dai/DA	D??i Z??	??????	??????	1,158,989
She	She/SH	Sh?? Z??	??????	??????	709,592
Lisu	Lisu/LS	L??s?? Z??	?????????	?????????	634,912
Gelao	Gelao/GL	G??l??o Z??	?????????	?????????	579,357
Dongxiang	Dongxiang/DX	D??ngxi??ng Z??	?????????	?????????	513,805
Gaoshan5	Gaoshan/GS	G??osh??n Z??	?????????	?????????	458,000
Lahu	Lahu/LH	L??h?? Z??	?????????	?????????	453,705
Sui	Sui/SU	Shu?? Z??	??????	??????	406,902
Va	Va/VA	W?? Z??	??????	??????	396,610
Nakhi6	Naxi/NX	N??x?? Z??	?????????	?????????	308,839
Qiang	Qiang/QI	Qi??ng Z??	??????	??????	306,072
Tu	Tu/TU	T?? Z??	??????	??????	241,198
Mulao	Mulao/ML	M??l??o Z??	?????????	?????????	207,352
Xibe	Xibe/XB	X??b?? Z??	?????????	?????????	188,824
Kyrgyz	Kirgiz/KG	K????rk??z?? Z??	???????????????	???????????????	160,823
Daur	Daur/DU	D??w????r Z??	????????????	????????????	132,394
Jingpo7	Jingpo/JP	J??ngp?? Z??	?????????	?????????	132,143
Maonan	Maonan/MN	M??on??n Z??	?????????	?????????	107,166
Salar	Salar/SL	S??l?? Z??	?????????	?????????	104,503
Blang	Blang/BL	B??l??ng Z??	?????????	?????????	91,882
Tajik	Tajik/TA	T??j??k?? Z??	????????????	????????????	41,028
Achang	Achang/AC	??ch??ng Z??	?????????	?????????	33,936
Pumi	Pumi/PM	P??m?? Z??	?????????	?????????	33,600
Ewenki	Ewenki/EW	??w??nk?? Z??	????????????	????????????	30,505
Nu	Nu/NU	N?? Z??	??????	??????	28,759
Jing-Vietnamese8	Gin/GI	J??ng Z??	??????	??????	22,517
Jino	Jino/JN	J??nu?? Z??	?????????	?????????	20,899
De'ang	Deang/DE	D????ng Z??	?????????	?????????	17,935
Bonan	Bonan/BO	B??o??n Z??	?????????	?????????	16,505
Russian	Russ/RS	??lu??s?? Z??	????????????	????????????	15,609
Yugur	Yugur/YG	Y??g?? Z??	?????????	?????????	13,719
Uzbeks	Uzbek/UZ	W??z??bi??k?? Z??	???????????????	???????????????	12,370
Monba	Monba/MB	M??nb?? Z??	?????????	?????????	8,923
Oroqen	Oroqen/OR	??l??nch??n Z??	????????????	????????????	8,196
Derung	Derung/DR	D??l??ng Z??	?????????	?????????	7,426
Tatars	Tatar/TT	T??t????r Z??	????????????	????????????	4,890
Hezhen9	Hezhen/HZ	H??zh?? Z??	?????????	?????????	4,640
Lhoba	Lhoba/LB	Lu??b?? Z??	?????????	?????????	2,965

^A GB 3304???91 "Names of nationalities of China in romanization with codes".

^Bthe population only includes the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China

¹also includes Utsuls of Hainan, descended from Cham refugees

²a subset of which is also known as Hmong
³including Amdowa and Khampa

⁴this category includes several different Tai-speaking groups historically referred to as Bai-yi

⁵a collective name for all Taiwanese aborigine groups in Taiwan

⁶also included are the ; M??su??

⁷known as Kachin in Myanmar

⁸The same group as Vietnamese or Kinh in Sino-Vietnamese and historically referred to as ??? Yu??, or Sino-Viet Vi???t . See Yue (peoples).

⁹the same group as Nanai on the Russian side of the border

The People's Republic of China government officially refers to all Taiwanese aborigines as Gaoshan , whereas the Republic of China ( Taiwan) recognizes 14 groups of Taiwanese aborigines. The term Gaoshan has a different connotation in Taiwan than it does in mainland China. While several thousands of these aborigines have migrated to Fujian province in mainland China, most remain in Taiwan. Due to the contested political status and legal status of Taiwan, the PRC classification of Taiwanese aborigines may be controversial.

This is a list of ethnic groups in China that are not officially recognized by the government of the People's Republic of China.

• ??ynu people

• Gejia (????????????, G??ji?? R??n)

• Bajia (?????????, B??ji?? R??n)

• Deng (??????, D??ng R??n)

• Khmu (?????????, K??m?? R??n)

• Kucong (Yellow Lahu/Lahu Shi (?????????; Traditional: ?????????; K??c??ng R??n)

• Mang (??????, M??ng R??n)

• Sherpas (????????????; Traditional: ????????????; Xi????rb?? R??n)

• Tuvans (?????????, T??w?? R??n)

• Yi (??????, Y??r??n)

• Youtai (??????; Traditional: ??????; Y??ut??i) (Jewish people of China and Jewish people in general)

• Yamato Japanese ( ???????????? ) and Ryukyuans ( ???????????? ) living as permanent residents in Taiwan

See also: Demographics of Hong Kong, Demographics of Macau

Hong Kong and Macau are special administrative region s of the People's Republic of China. The governments of Hong Kong and Macau do not use the official PRC ethnic classification system, nor does the PRC's official classification system take ethnic groups in Hong Kong and Macau into account. As a result, minority groups such as Filipinos, Indonesians, Europeans and South Asians in Hong Kong, as well as Portuguese and Macanese (people of mixed Chinese-Portuguese ancestry) in Macau, do not appear in the PRC's list of ethnicities in China.

• Ethnic minorities in China

• Undistinguished ethnic groups in China

• Tai ethnic groups in China

• Ethnic groups in Taiwan

• Zhonghua Minzu

• Taiwanese aborigines

• Demographics of the People's Republic of China and Taiwan

• Languages of China

• Family album of Chinese 56 ethnic groups