China's Justice Ministry reports 16.54 million mediations in 2025
In short
China's Ministry of Justice said the country's people's mediators handled 16.537 million cases in 2025, with a mediation success rate of 96.5% and 94% of agreements carried out. The ministry counted 697,000 people's mediation committees and 3.102 million mediators nationwide, including 560,000 full-time. It also said 4.4 million “legal understanding persons” have been trained and that rule-of-law publicity campaigns reached more than 1.45 billion audience touches.
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China had 697,000 people's mediation committees and handled 16.537 million mediation cases in 2025, according to the Ministry of Justice, as reported by China News Service, Jiemian, Yicai and Xinhua. The ministry put the mediation success rate at 96.5% and said 94% of mediation agreements were carried out. China News Service and Jiemian said the information came from the ministry and did not give the date it was released. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]
The ministry said 612,000 of the committees are at village or community level, 40,000 at township or street level, and 54,000 are industry-specific or professional committees and studios. It counted 3.102 million people's mediators nationwide, including 560,000 full-time mediators, and said a mediation organisation network covering urban and rural communities and key sectors and work units has basically taken shape. [ 2 , 3 ]
The ministry also said 4.4 million “legal understanding persons” have been trained to date. Village two-committee members, people's mediators and grid workers make up about 50% of them, and the ministry said nearly every village or community now has at least three. It said it is guiding localities to strengthen dynamic management of these people and to make their training procedures more standardised. [ 2 , 3 ]
Working with relevant departments, the ministry issued a law on rule-of-law publicity education and carried out study and publicity work for it, reaching more than 1.45 billion audience touches across online and offline channels, it said. The reports did not compare the 2025 mediation figures with those of earlier years. [ 2 , 3 ]
Why it matters
The figures are the ministry's own account of how a large share of civil disputes is handled outside the courts, through village, township and industry mediation bodies. They indicate the scale of the state-backed mediation and legal-literacy network that Chinese authorities present as a first line for dispute resolution. The release gives no comparison with earlier years, so it does not on its own show whether mediation caseloads or success rates are rising or falling.
Key facts
- In 2025, 16.537 million cases of all kinds were mediated, with a mediation success rate of 96.5% and an agreement performance rate of 94%, according to the Ministry of Justice. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]
- China has 697,000 people's mediation committees: 612,000 at village or community level, 40,000 at township or street level, and 54,000 industry-specific or professional committees and studios. [ 2 , 3 ]
- There are 3.102 million people's mediators nationwide, of whom 560,000 are full-time. [ 2 , 3 ]
- The ministry said a mediation organisation network covering urban and rural communities and key sectors and work units has basically taken shape. [ 2 , 3 ]
- 4.4 million “legal understanding persons” have been trained so far, with village two-committee members, people's mediators and grid workers accounting for about 50%; nearly every village or community has at least three. [ 2 , 3 ]
- The ministry said it worked with relevant departments to issue a law on rule-of-law publicity education, and that online and offline campaigns reached more than 1.45 billion audience touches. [ 2 , 3 ]
Confirmed by several sources
- The Ministry of Justice reported 16.537 million cases mediated in 2025, a 96.5% mediation success rate and a 94% agreement performance rate. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]
- There are 697,000 people's mediation committees and 3.102 million people's mediators, including 560,000 full-time, according to the ministry. [ 2 , 3 ]
- The ministry said 4.4 million “legal understanding persons” have been cultivated, with at least three in nearly every village or community. [ 2 , 3 ]
Still unclear
- The exact date the Ministry of Justice published the figures. China News Service and Jiemian say only that a reporter learned the information from the ministry “recently” (日前); no release date or event time is given.
- How the 2025 figures compare with earlier years. The documents give a single year's totals and rates, with no prior-year figures or trend.
- What counts as a mediated case and which disputes are included in the 16.537 million figure. The documents state the total and the success and performance rates but do not define the case categories covered.
What local media are saying
Timeline, local time
- Yicai publishes the ministry's 2025 mediation case figure. [ 1 ]
- China News Service publishes the detailed ministry data on committees, mediators and legal-literacy work. [ 2 ]
- Jiemian publishes the same ministry figures, credited to CCTV News. [ 3 ]
- Xinhua carries the mediation case figure in its headline. [ 4 ]