Crime and the Black Market in Modern Day China With a population of approximately 1,203,097,268 people , China, who has the world's largest population, also has the world's fastest growing black market and crime problem. In China, crime rates have been climbing an estimated 10 percent a year since the early 1980s . China is a country that is currently experiencing both political and economic instability. Economic reforms that have been put in place by the government have only widened the income gap, creating a middle class with money and a lower class of newly poor. With an ever increasing size in this gap of income distribution and the relative ease of making mo