China faces environmental challenges of staggering proportions.
Non-Chinese observers have similarly noted the country's massive environmental challenges, describing them in sometimes alarming terms. The magnitude of China's environmental problems reflects in part China's demographics. It is the third largest country in the world in terms of land territory. China has by far the largest population of all countries, with about 1.2 billion people, which is more than one-fifth of the world's total population. These extremes of size, population and lack of wealth only partly explain the seriousness of China's environmental challenges.