Most non-government organizations (NGOs) in China are academic ones, while the proportion of NGOs in the field of charity work and the number of NGOs specializing in aiding vulnerable people is too small, according to a survey done by the NGO Research Center of Qinghua University.

The survey, which was conducted in 2000, shows that there were merely 1.45 NGOs for every 10,000 Chinese, which is far fewer than in developed nations, or in some developing countries such as India and Brazil.

In 1998, the average annual expenditure for each of Chinese NGOstood at 199,700 yuan (about 24,000 US dollars), and the entire expenditure of Chinese NGOs made up 0.46 percent of the country's GDP, while it was more than 10 percent in the Netherlands and Israel, and over 5 percent in the United States and Australia.

(Xinhua News Agency January 8, 2004)