How China’s numbers are stacking up vs. United States has always interested me.  Here are some from Time Magazine that I feel were quite amusing.

- China is planning to spend $45 billion in its defense military budget next year.  In contrast, US will have a budget of $481.4 billion.  Yet, United States is worried about China.

- China has a population of 1,314 million.  US has 301 million.  That round off error that we always do when we say that China has 1 billion plus population is the total population of the United States.

- China has a trade surplus of 177 billion dollars.  US has a trade deficit of $225 billion.

- China now has 461 million cell phone users while US has 219 million.

- China has 139 million cable TV subscribers while US has 110 million.

- China has 11.5 million private cars, while US has 136 million.  YET, 89,455 people died of traffic accidents in China, while only 48,433 in the United States.  Of course, ONLY is a relative word.  48,433 is a lot of people to die in traffic accidents, and is over 50 times the people who died in Iraq every year.

More statistics in this Time.com feature article.

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