What Influences the Growth of the Chinese Nonprofit Sector: A Prefecture-Level Study

The nonprofit sector in China has experienced unprecedented growth in its scope and impact over the past four decades. Despite the significant growth, the distribution of nonprofit activities across localities is not well understood. This study combines administrative and census data to examine the size of the Chinese nonprofit sector across 334 prefectures. The study demonstrates a significant variation in nonprofit sector size across prefectures. The study further shows that population heterogeneity, government social spending, and government fragmentation have positive effects on boosting nonprofit sector size in a prefecture. Although diverse service needs affect the growth of the Chinese nonprofit sector, government activities play a more important role in mobilizing nonprofit activities and driving nonprofit sector growth.