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China’s missing numbers

How the Chinese state make inconvenient statistics on youth unemployment and covid deaths disappear.

How many young people are unemployed? How much debt does the government owe? How many people have died from Covid?

These are questions that many governments will keep regularly updated. But in China they have disappeared.

We investigate the reasons behind China’s missing numbers.

Reporter: Celia Hatton
Series Producer: Tom Colls
Sound Engineer: Graham Puddifoot
Editor: Richard Vadon

(Picture: Chinese flag behind a graph with statistics
Credit: Igor Kutyaev/iStock/Getty Images Plus)

Available now

9 minutes

Last on

Mon 18 Dec 2023 00:50GMT
BBC World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa

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Broadcasts

  • Sat 16 Dec 2023 05:50GMT
    BBC World Service except East and Southern Africa, Europe and the Middle East & West and Central Africa
  • Sat 16 Dec 2023 11:50GMT
    BBC World Service East and Southern Africa & Europe and the Middle East only
  • Sat 16 Dec 2023 16:50GMT
    BBC World Service News Internet
  • Sun 17 Dec 2023 09:50GMT
    BBC World Service West and Central Africa
  • Sun 17 Dec 2023 11:50GMT
    BBC World Service except East and Southern Africa, Europe and the Middle East & West and Central Africa
  • Sun 17 Dec 2023 22:50GMT
    BBC World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
  • Mon 18 Dec 2023 00:50GMT
    BBC World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa

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When can you trust statistics?

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