Nearly 4 million enterprises and public institutions had set up more than 1.84 million trade unions across China by the end of 2009, says a white paper issued by the Information Office of the State Council Sunday.

According to the white paper titled "Progress in China's Human Rights in 2009," the number of trade union members in China had exceeded 226.3 million by the end of 2009.

Over the past five years, the number of trade union members has been increasing by more than 15 million per year on average, it adds.