BEIJING, July 1 (Xinhua) -- Membership in the Communist Party of China (CPC) reached 74.15 million people at the end of 2007, up2.78 million from a year ago, according to the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee.

    There were about 3.66 million grass-roots CPC organizations, up99,000 from 2006, said the department in a statement.

    Since the 16th National Congress of the CPC in 2002, the Party has welcomed 13.16 million new members, according to the statistics.

    The statistics show nearly 15.12 million, or 20.4 percent of the members, were women; 4.79 million, or 6.5 percent, were from ethnic minorities; 17.30 million, or 23.3 percent, were under 35, and 39.02 million, or 52.6 percent, were between 36 and 59.

    The statistics also show 994,000, or 35.7 percent of the new members joining the Party last year, were women; 187,000, or 6.7 percent, were from ethnic minorities; 2.23 million, or 80.1 percent, were under 35, and 866,000, or 31.1 percent, were college graduates.

    Among the new members, 16,000 were from the "new social stratum," a term used to label businessmen and managerial-level staff from the private sector and foreign companies and self-employed professionals such as lawyers and accountants.

    About 19.506 million people nationwide applied for Party membership in 2007, 433,000 or 2.3 percent more than in the previous year, the statement said.

    The number of Party members on campus increased most considerably, the statement said.

    About 99,500 students joined the CPC last year, accounting for 35.8 percent of the new membership. They were the largest group compared with others such as workers, farmers, officials, army officers, managers and the self-employed.