China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the world's second-most populous country after India, representing 17.4% of the world population. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and borders fourteen countries by land.[k] With an area of nearly 9.6 million square kilometers (3,700,000 sq mi), it is the third-largest country by total land area.[l] The country is divided into 33 province-level divisions: 22 provinces,[m] five autonomous region