A senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC) said that the number of CPC members has increased to almost 78 million during the past six decades.

By the end of last year, the CPC had a total of 77.99 million members, about 116 times the figure in 1949 when the People's Republic of China was founded, Wang Qinfeng, Vice Minister of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, said at a press conference on June 28.

Last year, more than 20 million people applied to join the CPC and the Party recruited about 2 million new members, Wang said.

Of the total 78 million CPC members, about 18.5 million were under 35 years old, and close to 28 million held a college degree or above, he said.