The Communist Party of China dismissed 44,738 unqualified Party members last year, said Ouyang Song, deputy head of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, at a press conference here Thursday.

According to the Party Constitution and other relevant regulations, Party members who fail to meet the Party requirements after repeated education would be dealt with, he said.

During the 18-month education campaign to help Party members stay advanced, Party organizations carried out education activities to assist Party members who fail to fulfill their obligations.

The Party's ever largest campaign involved nearly 70 million Party members in over 3.5 million grassroots Party organizations.

Statistics from the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee show that China now has 70.8 million Party members.

About 2.1 to 2.47 million people have joined the Party every year since the 16th CPC National Congress in 2002.

In 2005, over 17 million people applied for Party membership and 2.47 million of them were granted the title. Nearly two million of the new members were below 35 years old, accounting for 80.1 percent of the total.