This study extracted China’s science popularization policies by systems theory，identified four primary influencing factors：macroeconomic and social elements，education，nationwide science popularization，and individual citizen attributes. By isolating these key factors，it explored the efficacy of nationwide science popularization and the primary initiatives of the China Association for Science and Technology（CAST），driving innovation in research on the determinants of scientific literacy. The analysis reveals that education and science popularization were the two major contributors to citizens’scientific literacy in China，accounting for cumulative contributions of 66.1% and 21.5% to the total scientific literacy level respectively. Education played a dominant role in shaping scientific literacy. Meanwhile，the contributions of education and science popularization to the growth of citizens’scientific literacy from 2020 to 2023 were 40.5% and 40.8% respectively，highlighting the significant role of science popularization in driving incremental improvements. Science popularization media made the largest contribution to the overall scientific literacy level，accounting for 53.7% of the total contribution from nationwide science popularization efforts，and 44.6% of the contribution to the incremental growth in scientific literacy. Examining key demographic groups，the mechanisms for enhancing scientific literacy could be categorized into three types：media-driven，media and activity- driven，media and facility-driven. Through a systematic analysis of the primary factors influencing scientific literacy，this study furthered the understanding of its developmental patterns，providing a theoretical foundation for formulating more effective science popularization strategies and advancing the high-quality development of civic scientific literacy.