On July 5, 2021, Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People's Republic of China issued a statistical bulletin on the development of culture and tourism in 2020. It publishes the statistical data of the development of national public libraries in 2020.

According to the communique, there were 3212 public libraries in China by the end of 2020, 16 more than at the end of last year; There were 57980 public library employees with an increase of 184. Among them, there were 7053 persons with senior professional titles, accounting for 12.2%; There were 18868 people with intermediate professional titles, accounting for 32.5%.

By the end of 2020, the actual building area of Public Libraries in China was 17.8577 million square meters, an increase of 12.2% over the end of last year; The total volume of books in China was 1179.2999 million with an increase of 6.1%; The number of seats in reading rooms was 1.2647 million with an increase of 6.2%; There were 226234 computers, 419 more; Among them, there were 1437.14 million electronic reading terminals for readers with a decrease of 2022.

By the end of 2020, the national average building area of public libraries per 10000 people was 126.49 square meters, an increase of 5.09 square meters compared with the end of last year, and the national per capita book collection was 0.84, an increase of 0.05; In the whole year, the per capita book purchase fee was 1.60 yuan, a decrease of 0.08 yuan.

By the end of 2020, a total of 2397 counties (cities, districts) in China established the general branch library system, and 406 public libraries formed the Council.

C.R.：http://zwgk.mct.gov.cn/zfxxgkml/tjxx/202107/t20210705_926206.html