Regulations on the National Agricultural Census of the PRC — Full English Translation (2026)

Promulgated by Order No. 473 of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China on August 23, 2006; revised by Order No. 833 of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China on March 20, 2026

Effective: May 1, 2026

Table of Contents

Chapter I — General Provisions

Article 1 — These Regulations are formulated in accordance with the Statistics Law of the People’s Republic of China for the purpose of scientifically and effectively organizing and implementing the national agricultural census and ensuring the authenticity, accuracy, completeness and timeliness of agricultural census data.

Article 2 — The purpose of the agricultural census is to comprehensively ascertain the basic conditions of agriculture, rural areas and farmers in China, to provide a basis for researching and formulating economic and social development strategies, plans and policies and for scientific decision-making, and to provide statistical information services to agricultural producers and operators and the general public.

Article 3 — The agricultural census shall be organized and implemented in accordance with the principles of unified national leadership, division of work and coordination among departments, tiered local responsibility, and participation by all parties.

Article 4 — State organs, social organizations, and units and individuals related to the agricultural census shall, in accordance with the provisions of the Statistics Law of the People’s Republic of China and these Regulations, actively participate in and closely cooperate with the agricultural census work.

Article 5 — The offices of the leading groups for the agricultural census at all levels (hereinafter referred to as the census offices), together with the staff of the census offices, census instructors and census enumerators (hereinafter collectively referred to as census personnel), shall independently exercise the functions and powers of investigation, reporting and supervision in accordance with the law, and no unit or individual may interfere with them.

The persons in charge of localities, departments and units shall not modify on their own the agricultural census data collected or sorted by census offices and census personnel in accordance with the law, shall not by any means require census offices or census personnel to forge or tamper with agricultural census data, shall not explicitly or implicitly instruct subordinate units or their personnel, or agricultural census respondents, to submit false agricultural census data, and shall not retaliate against units or individuals that perform their duties in accordance with the law or that refuse or resist illegal acts in the agricultural census.

Article 6 — News media such as newspapers and periodicals, radio, television and news websites, and network service providers shall carry out publicity and reporting on the agricultural census through various forms.

Article 7 — The funds required for the agricultural census shall be borne jointly by the Central Government and the local people’s governments at all levels, shall be included in the corresponding annual budgets, and shall be appropriated in a timely manner so as to ensure that they are fully available.

Agricultural census funds shall be subject to unified management, be earmarked for designated purposes, and their expenditure shall be strictly controlled.

The financial departments and audit departments at all levels shall, in accordance with their functions and duties, strengthen budgetary supervision and audit supervision over agricultural census funds.

Article 8 — The agricultural census shall be conducted once every ten years. Years ending in the digit 6 shall be agricultural census years, and the reference time shall be 24:00 on December 31 of the agricultural census year. The registration time of the agricultural census in special regions may be appropriately adjusted upon approval by the Office of the Leading Group for the National Agricultural Census of the State Council.

Chapter II — Objects, Scope and Content of the Agricultural Census

Article 9 — The respondents of the agricultural census are the following units and individuals within the territory of the People’s Republic of China:

(1) rural households, including rural agricultural production and operation households and other households;

(2) urban and township agricultural production and operation households;

(3) agricultural production and operation units;

(4) villagers’ committees; and

(5) township people’s governments.

Article 10 — Agricultural census respondents shall truthfully answer the inquiries of census personnel concerning matters related to the agricultural census, complete and submit agricultural census forms on time, and provide the data required for the agricultural census; they shall not provide untrue or incomplete agricultural census data, and shall not delay or refuse to report agricultural census data.

Agricultural census respondents shall cooperate with the supervision and inspection conducted in accordance with the law by the statistical institutions of the people’s governments at or above the county level, truthfully reflect the relevant circumstances, and provide the relevant certificates and materials; they shall not refuse or obstruct inspection, and shall not transfer, conceal, tamper with, destroy or discard original records and vouchers, statistical ledgers, agricultural census forms, accounting materials, or other relevant certificates and materials.

Requirements for agricultural census respondents to provide reports and materials shall adhere to the principles of necessity and standardization, streamline and consolidate the items to be reported, strengthen data sharing and utilization, and reduce the burden at the primary level.

Article 11 — The industry scope of the agricultural census includes crop farming, forestry, animal husbandry, fishery, and auxiliary activities of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery.

Article 12 — The content of the agricultural census includes the conditions of agricultural production, agricultural production and operation activities, agricultural land use, the living conditions of rural residents, the rural labor force and employment, the development of rural industries, rural construction, rural governance, and other circumstances.

The Office of the Leading Group for the National Agricultural Census of the State Council may adjust the content of the agricultural census specified in the preceding paragraph according to the specific circumstances.

Article 13 — The agricultural census shall adopt the method of comprehensive enumeration. The Office of the Leading Group for the National Agricultural Census of the State Council may decide to adopt methods such as sample surveys and remote-sensing measurement for specific content.

The agricultural census shall make full use of materials such as administrative records and social big data.

Article 14 — The agricultural census shall be conducted in accordance with national statistical standards.

Article 15 — The agricultural census plan shall be formulated uniformly by the Office of the Leading Group for the National Agricultural Census of the State Council and submitted to the State Council for examination and approval. The agricultural census shall be implemented in accordance with the provisions of the agricultural census plan.

Provincial census offices may, as needed, add supplementary forms to the agricultural census, which shall be implemented after approval by the Office of the Leading Group for the National Agricultural Census of the State Council.

Chapter III — Organization and Implementation of the Agricultural Census

Article 16 — The State Council shall establish the Leading Group for the National Agricultural Census and its office. The Leading Group for the National Agricultural Census of the State Council shall be responsible for organizing and leading the national agricultural census work. The Office of the Leading Group for the National Agricultural Census of the State Council shall be located in the National Bureau of Statistics and shall be specifically responsible for organizing and coordinating the routine work of the agricultural census. The Leading Group for the National Agricultural Census of the State Council and its office shall be dissolved automatically upon completion of their tasks.

Article 17 — The local people’s governments at all levels shall establish leading groups for the agricultural census and their offices and shall, in accordance with the unified provisions and requirements of the Leading Group for the National Agricultural Census of the State Council and its office, be responsible for organizing and implementing the agricultural census within their respective administrative areas. The survey institutions dispatched by the National Bureau of Statistics shall, as member units of the leading groups for the agricultural census and their offices, participate in the organization and implementation of the agricultural census. The leading groups for the agricultural census of the local people’s governments at all levels and their offices shall be dissolved automatically upon completion of their tasks.

Villagers’ committees shall, under the guidance of township people’s governments, assist in properly carrying out the agricultural census within their respective areas.

Article 18 — The relevant departments of the people’s governments at or above the county level shall actively participate in and closely cooperate with the census offices in carrying out the agricultural census work.

The agricultural census work of units subordinate to the armed forces shall be organized and implemented uniformly by the armed forces.

The agricultural census work of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps shall be organized and implemented by the Leading Group for the Agricultural Census of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps and its office.

Article 19 — On-site registration of the agricultural census in rural areas shall be conducted by census areas. Census areas shall be delineated on the basis of the areas administered by villagers’ committees, and each census area may be divided into a number of census sub-areas.

On-site registration of the agricultural census in urban and township areas shall be conducted in accordance with the provisions of the agricultural census plan.

Article 20 — Each census sub-area shall be staffed with one census enumerator, who shall be responsible for the interview registration and other work of the agricultural census. Each census area shall be staffed with at least one census instructor, who shall be responsible for arranging, guiding, and supervising and inspecting the work of the census enumerators, and may also directly conduct interview registration.

Census instructors and census enumerators shall mainly be recruited from rural cadres with a relatively high level of education, village group leaders and other local residents.

Census instructors and census enumerators shall be physically healthy and have a strong sense of responsibility.

Article 21 — Census offices may, based on work needs, hire personnel or, in accordance with provisions, borrow personnel from other relevant units to engage in the agricultural census work. The relevant units shall actively recommend personnel who meet the conditions to engage in the agricultural census work.

Hired personnel shall be paid labor remuneration by the hiring units. The wages of borrowed personnel shall be paid by their original units, and their welfare benefits shall remain unchanged.

Appropriate work subsidies for census instructors and census enumerators shall be arranged from the agricultural census funds.

Article 22 — Census offices shall provide professional training to census instructors and census enumerators, and shall issue nationally uniform census instructor certificates or census enumerator certificates to personnel who pass the assessment.

Article 23 — When conducting the agricultural census, census personnel shall have the right to inquire of relevant units and individuals about matters related to the agricultural census, and to require relevant units and individuals to truthfully provide the relevant information and materials and to correct untrue or inaccurate materials.

Article 24 — Census personnel shall adhere to the principle of seeking truth from facts, strictly observe professional ethics, and refuse and resist illegal acts in the agricultural census work.

Census offices and census personnel shall strictly implement the agricultural census plan, truthfully collect and submit agricultural census data, and shall not forge or tamper with agricultural census data, shall not by any means require agricultural census respondents to provide untrue agricultural census data, shall not by any means require census personnel or subordinate census offices to forge or tamper with agricultural census data, and shall not commit any other act in violation of these Regulations.

When performing agricultural census tasks, census instructors and census enumerators shall present their census instructor certificates or census enumerator certificates; where they fail to do so, agricultural census respondents shall have the right to refuse to provide the relevant information and materials.

Article 25 — Census enumerators shall, in accordance with the law, directly visit agricultural census respondents and conduct inquiries and complete forms on the spot. After an agricultural census form is completed, it shall be signed or sealed by the agricultural census respondent for confirmation. Agricultural census respondents shall be responsible for the authenticity of the agricultural census data that they have signed or sealed.

Census personnel shall be responsible for the consistency between the agricultural census data for which they are responsible for registering, reviewing and entering and the agricultural census data signed or sealed by the agricultural census respondents.

Census offices shall be responsible for the authenticity, accuracy and completeness of the agricultural census data that they have processed and sorted.

Chapter IV — Data Processing and Quality Control

Article 26 — The plan and implementation measures for agricultural census data processing shall be formulated by the Office of the Leading Group for the National Agricultural Census of the State Council.

Census offices shall process data in accordance with the provisions of the data processing plan and implementation measures.

Article 27 — The Office of the Leading Group for the National Agricultural Census of the State Council shall establish and improve the agricultural census data processing system, and strengthen its routine management, maintenance and updating so as to ensure data security.

Article 28 — The State shall establish a quality control system for agricultural census data.

Census offices shall, in accordance with the relevant requirements of the quality control system for agricultural census data, exercise quality control and conduct inspection and acceptance over every link in the implementation of the agricultural census.

Article 29 — Census personnel shall implement a responsibility system for quality control.

Census personnel shall review, recheck and accept agricultural census data in accordance with the provisions of the agricultural census plan.

Article 30 — The Office of the Leading Group for the National Agricultural Census of the State Council shall formulate the plan for post-enumeration quality sampling checks of the agricultural census and uniformly organize the post-enumeration quality sampling checks. The results of the post-enumeration quality sampling checks shall serve as an important basis for evaluating the quality of agricultural census data at the national level and in various localities.

Chapter V — Data Publication, Data Management, and Development and Application

Article 31 — The State shall establish a system for the publication of agricultural census data.

Aggregated agricultural census data shall be made public in a timely manner, except for data that is to be kept confidential in accordance with the law.

The national agricultural census data and the principal agricultural census data of each province, autonomous region and municipality directly under the Central Government shall be examined and determined by the Office of the Leading Group for the National Agricultural Census of the State Council and published jointly with the relevant departments of the State Council.

Local census offices shall, before publishing agricultural census bulletins, submit them to the census office at the next higher level for verification and approval.

Article 32 — Census offices and census personnel shall keep confidential the state secrets, work secrets, commercial secrets, personal privacy and personal information that they learn in the course of the agricultural census work, and shall not disclose them or illegally provide them to others; materials collected in the course of the agricultural census work that can identify or infer the identity of an individual agricultural census respondent shall not be provided to outsiders or disclosed, and shall not be used for purposes other than statistics.

Article 33 — Census offices shall, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the State, establish and improve systems for the preservation and management of agricultural census data, properly preserve and manage the agricultural census data, and, upon completion of the agricultural census work, promptly complete the archiving and handover of the relevant agricultural census data.

The relevant departments shall, in accordance with the law, properly carry out work such as inter-departmental sharing of agricultural census data and the provision of services to the general public, and shall develop and apply the agricultural census data.

Article 34 — The statistical institutions of the people’s governments at or above the county level and the relevant departments may, based on the results of the agricultural census, revise the historical data of relevant routine statistics; the specific measures shall be prescribed by the National Bureau of Statistics.

Chapter VI — Rewards and Penalties

Article 35 — Units and individuals that conscientiously implement these Regulations, are loyal to their duties, adhere to principles, and have made outstanding achievements shall be rewarded in accordance with the relevant provisions of the State.

Article 36 — Where the persons in charge of localities, departments or units commit any of the following acts, they shall be given disciplinary sanctions in accordance with the law and shall be circulated in a notice by the statistical institutions of the people’s governments at or above the county level:

(1) modifying agricultural census data on their own or fabricating false agricultural census data;

(2) requiring census offices or census personnel to forge or tamper with agricultural census data;

(3) explicitly or implicitly instructing subordinate units or their personnel, or agricultural census respondents, to submit false agricultural census data;

(4) failing to detect serious inaccuracies in agricultural census data or serious illegal acts in the agricultural census that occur within their locality, department or unit; or

(5) committing any other act of falsification or fraud in the agricultural census.

Whoever retaliates against units or individuals that perform their duties in accordance with the law or that refuse or resist illegal acts in the agricultural census shall be given disciplinary sanctions and circulated in a notice in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph.

Article 37 — Where a census office commits any of the following acts, it shall be ordered by the people’s government at the same level or the statistical institution of the people’s government at a higher level to make corrections and shall be circulated in a notice; the responsible leading personnel and the directly responsible personnel shall be given disciplinary sanctions in accordance with the law:

(1) failing to implement the agricultural census plan;

(2) forging or tampering with agricultural census data;

(3) requiring agricultural census respondents to provide untrue agricultural census data; or

(4) requiring census personnel or subordinate census offices to forge or tamper with agricultural census data.

Where census personnel commit any of the acts listed in the preceding paragraph, they shall be ordered to make corrections and shall be given disciplinary sanctions in accordance with the law.

Article 38 — Where a census office commits any of the following acts, the responsible leading personnel and the directly responsible personnel shall be given disciplinary sanctions in accordance with the law:

(1) unlawfully publishing agricultural census data;

(2) disclosing, or illegally providing to others, state secrets, work secrets, commercial secrets, personal privacy or personal information learned in the course of the agricultural census work;

(3) providing to outsiders or disclosing materials collected in the course of the agricultural census work that can identify or infer the identity of an individual agricultural census respondent; or

(4) causing damage to or loss of agricultural census data in violation of the relevant provisions of the State.

Where census personnel commit any of the acts listed in the preceding paragraph, they shall be given disciplinary sanctions in accordance with the law.

Article 39 — Where an agricultural production and operation unit, villagers’ committee or township people’s government, as an agricultural census respondent, commits any of the following acts, it shall be ordered by the statistical institution of the people’s government at or above the county level to make corrections, be given a warning, and may be circulated in a notice; where its responsible leading personnel and directly responsible personnel are public officials, they shall be given disciplinary sanctions in accordance with the law:

(1) refusing or obstructing census offices or census personnel in lawfully conducting the agricultural census;

(2) providing untrue or incomplete agricultural census data;

(3) refusing to report, or failing to provide agricultural census data on time even after being urged to do so;

(4) refusing or obstructing supervision and inspection; or

(5) transferring, concealing, tampering with, destroying or discarding, or refusing to provide, original records and vouchers, statistical ledgers, agricultural census forms, accounting materials and other relevant certificates and materials.

Where an agricultural production and operation unit commits any of the acts listed in the preceding paragraph, it may also be fined not more than 100,000 yuan; where the circumstances are serious, it may also be fined not less than 100,000 yuan but not more than 500,000 yuan.

Where a rural household or an urban and township agricultural production and operation household commits any of the acts listed in the first paragraph of this Article, it shall be ordered by the statistical institution of the people’s government at or above the county level to make corrections and shall be given criticism and education.

Where an agricultural census respondent commits any of the acts listed in items (1) or (4) of the first paragraph of this Article, and such act constitutes a violation of public security administration, the public security organ shall handle the matter in accordance with the law.

Article 40 — Where an agricultural production and operation unit, villagers’ committee or township people’s government, as an agricultural census respondent, delays in reporting agricultural census data, it shall be ordered by the statistical institution of the people’s government at or above the county level to make corrections, be given a warning, and may be circulated in a notice; where its responsible leading personnel and directly responsible personnel are public officials, they shall be given disciplinary sanctions in accordance with the law.

Where an agricultural production and operation unit delays in reporting agricultural census data, it may also be fined not more than 50,000 yuan.

Where a rural household or an urban and township agricultural production and operation household delays in reporting agricultural census data, it shall be ordered by the statistical institution of the people’s government at or above the county level to make corrections and shall be given criticism and education.

Article 41 — Whoever violates the provisions of these Regulations and thereby causes personal injury or property damage shall bear civil liability in accordance with the law; where a crime is constituted, criminal liability shall be pursued in accordance with the law.

Article 42 — Census offices shall set up telephone numbers and mailboxes for reporting violations, and shall accept reporting and supervision of illegal acts in the agricultural census from all sectors of society. Units and individuals that make meritorious reports shall be rewarded in accordance with the relevant provisions of the State.

Chapter VII — Supplementary Provisions

Article 43 — Where sub-district offices and residents’ committees are involved in agricultural production and operation activities, the provisions of these Regulations concerning township people’s governments and villagers’ committees shall apply mutatis mutandis, respectively.

Article 44 — These Regulations shall come into force on May 1, 2026.