* No official census: China's census doesn't track language use in detail.
* "Cantonese" is broad: Cantonese encompasses various dialects, making it hard to define who counts as a speaker.
* Mandarin dominance: Mandarin is the official language of China, and its use is widespread, especially in education and media.
However, we can say that:
* Cantonese is the dominant language in Guangdong province and Hong Kong: It's estimated that over 60 million people speak Cantonese natively in Guangdong alone.
* Cantonese is spoken in other areas of South China: Cantonese is also prevalent in Guangxi, Hainan, and parts of Fujian provinces.
* Cantonese is a minority language in China: While significant in number, Cantonese speakers are a minority compared to Mandarin speakers.
It's safe to say that Cantonese speakers likely constitute a sizeable minority of the Chinese population, but an exact percentage is difficult to determine.