* Simplified Chinese: The standard writing system in mainland China, Singapore, and Malaysia has around 3,500 characters in common use. This number includes characters for everyday words, names, and places.
* Traditional Chinese: The writing system used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau has around 5,000 characters in common use.
* Total Number of Characters: The complete set of Chinese characters, including those rarely used, can be over 50,000. However, most people only need to know a few thousand to be literate.
It's also important to understand that Chinese characters are not the same as letters. A single character can represent an entire word or syllable.