The number of China’s Communist Party of China (CPC) members had totaled 82.6 million by the end of 2011, higher than the population of both Britain and France, and almost equals the population of Germany, according to the statistics by Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee.

The CPC had added nearly 17 million members in the last decade, with an average of over 1 million people joining the party every year.

Twenty-five percent of the 82.6 million CPC members are under the age of 35 and 38.6% of them have a junior college degree or above, statistics showed.

Government offices and state-controlled agencies and companies have the most party membership but in non-state related sectors, the number has also been growing with party bodies existing in nearly all 983,000 private enterprises and 26,500 social organizations ending 2011.

Twenty seven entrepreneurs in private sectors are elected as deputies to the upcoming 18th National Congress, up from 7 in the 16th National Congress ten years ago and from 17 in 2007.

The 27 deputies are chairmen from leading Chinese enterprises including Sany Heavy Industrial Co.Ltd, Wanda Group and Lenovo Group.

Of all 2270 deputies to the meeting, 145 are business leaders from state-owned enterprises, financial institutions as well as private enterprises across the nation.

The 18th CPC National Congress which marks the once-in-a-decade leadership transition in China will kick off on November 8th.