> In China, a $20-a-month AI plan costs 8.8% of the median living standard, 11 times the share it takes in the United States; for 42% of people it is over a tenth of what they live on. None of Claude, OpenAI's API or Gemini is officially offered. 92% of people use the internet.

[World](https://themodelindex.org/world/) /

Asia

AI access, cost and use · Eastern Asia · Asia · data read 1 Oct 2026

# China

In China, a $20-a-month AI plan costs 8.8% of the median living standard, 11 times the share it takes in the United States; for 42% of people it is over a tenth of what they live on. None of Claude, OpenAI's API or Gemini is officially offered. 92% of people use the internet.

8.8%

of the median living standard for a $20 plan

Asia median 13% · United States 0.79%

42%

of people for whom the plan is over a tenth of their living standard

about 594 m people

0of 3

leading services officially offered

none listed

92%

of people use the internet

world 74% · 1.41 bn people

## The figures · China

People

1.41 bn

Median living standard

$2,734a year per person · consumption

A $20 plan takes

8.8%of that · 11× the US share

For whom it is over a tenth

42%of people

Survey

2022revalued at 2025 prices · rural and urban surveys combined by population

GNI per person

$14,230plan is 1.7% of it

Claude use per person

not reported

Notable AI models built here

189118 since 2023

## Officially offered here · 0 of 3

[Run it yourself →](https://themodelindex.org/local/)

Claude · claude.ai app

Not listed

OpenAI · API

Not listed

Gemini · web app

Not listed

From each lab's own published list: Anthropic's Claude.ai countries, OpenAI's API countries and Google's Gemini web app countries. Not listed means not officially served; open-weight models can be run anywhere.

## Against Asia and the world · regional figures are medians or population-weighted

| MEASURE | CHINA | ASIA | WORLD |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| A $20 plan ÷ median living standard | 8.8% | 13% | 9.9% |
| People for whom it is over a tenth | 42% | 72% | 63% |
| Plan price ÷ GNI per person | 1.7% | 3.9% | 2.9% |
| People using the internet | 92% | 76% | 74% |
| Claude use per working-age person | not reported | 0.43× | 1.00× |
| Notable AI models built | 189 | 283 | 1,256 |

## Neighbours · Eastern Asia · lightest burden first

| COUNTRY | PEOPLE | ONLINE | $20 PLAN ÷ MEDIAN LIVING STANDARD | OVER A TENTH | CLAUDE USE PER PERSON | OFFICIAL LISTS |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [South Korea](https://themodelindex.org/world/south-korea/) | 52 m | 98% | 1.6% | 1% | 3.78× | 3 of 3 |
| [Japan](https://themodelindex.org/world/japan/) | 123 m | 86% | 1.9% | 3% | 1.91× | 3 of 3 |
| China | 1.41 bn | 92% | 8.8% | 42% | not reported | 0 of 3 |
| [Mongolia](https://themodelindex.org/world/mongolia/) | 3.6 m | 85% | 14% | 72% | 1.37× | 3 of 3 |
| [North Korea](https://themodelindex.org/world/north-korea/) | 27 m | 0% | no estimate | – | not reported | 0 of 3 |
| [Hong Kong](https://themodelindex.org/world/hong-kong/) | 7.5 m | 96% | no estimate | – | not reported | 1 of 3 |
| [Macao](https://themodelindex.org/world/macao/) | 686k | 90% | no estimate | – | not reported | 1 of 3 |

[All countries →](https://themodelindex.org/world/)

## The foundations · China against the world

[World Bank ↗](https://data.worldbank.org/indicator)

People using the internet

92%

world 74%

People with electricity

100%

world 92%

Mobile subscriptions per 100 people

132

world 112

Fixed broadband lines per 100 people

47.2

world 20.1

Enrolled in university-level education

77%

world 44%

Research spending, share of GDP

2.58%

world 2.6%

Researchers per million people

2,107

world 1,652

Secure internet servers per million people

1,413

world 16,381

The latest World Bank figure for each measure. The tick marks the world figure.

A $20-a-month plan ($240 a year, US list price) against the median household living standard per person in each country. The median is from the latest national household survey (World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform), revalued from 2021 purchasing-power dollars into US dollars at recent prices and official exchange rates, assuming real living standards have not changed since the survey. Some surveys measure income and others consumption, which includes food people grow and housing they own, so this is a living standard, not cash to spare. Countries with no survey since 2015 or no defensible exchange rate are left blank.

[World Bank household surveys ↗](https://pip.worldbank.org/) [Anthropic countries ↗](https://www.anthropic.com/supported-countries) [OpenAI countries ↗](https://platform.openai.com/docs/supported-countries) [Gemini countries ↗](https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/13575153) [Anthropic Economic Index ↗](https://www.anthropic.com/research/economic-index-june-2026-report) [Epoch AI notable models ↗](https://epoch.ai/data/notable-ai-models)

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Source: https://themodelindex.org/world/china/ · The Model Index · data as of 2026-10-01