With roughly the same geographic size as the United States, China has four and a half times as many people. Despite these limits, China has managed reasonably well as a mainly rural, agricultural country. Over the past two decades, it has made substantial progress in improving nutrition and in providing basic amenities like health care and education to its people. But at its recent pace of economic growth, China's shortage of resources could soon begin to impede its development plans. Environmental stresses, meanwhile, are already slowing China's economy.
China is also short of fresh water.
China is also putting great stress on its limited agricultural and forest lands. The rich arable land along the coastal plain is rapidly being covered with homes, factories, roads, and parking lots, while soil erosion has reduced the productivity of a sizable portion of the remaining lands. Moreover, demand for building materials and firewood has put similar pressures on China's forests. International surveys find that five of the world's ten most air-polluted cities are found in China. China's acid rain is also carried by the wind to Japan and South Korea, both of which claim that China now accounts for more than half the acid rain falling within their borders.