Economy of China

This article is about the economy of the People's Republic of China. For the economy of the Republic of China, see Economy of Taiwan. For other uses, see Economy of China (disambiguation).

Economy of China
Shanghai, the financial center of China
CurrencyRenminbi (CNY, ¥)
Calendar year
Trade organizations
WTO, BRICS, SCO, APEC, RCEP, G20, G77 and others
Country group
Developing country[1]
Statistics
PopulationDecrease 1,409,050,000 (2024)[4]
GDP
GDP rank
GDP growth
  • 5.3% (2023)
  • 4.8% (2024)
  • 4.5% (2025 est.)[4]
GDP per capita
  • Increase $12,969 (nominal; 2024)[4]
  • Increase $26,310 (PPP; 2024)[4]
GDP per capita rank
GDP by sector
GDP by component
  • Household consumption: 39.2%
  • Government consumption: 16.5%
  • Investment in fixed capital: 41.4%
  • Investment in inventories: 0.7%
  • Exports of goods and services: 18.9%
  • Imports of goods and services: -14.3%
  • Net exports: 2.1%
  • (2023)[6]
1.0% (2024)[5]
Population below poverty line
Positive decrease 17% on less than $6.85/day (2021)[7]
Positive decrease 35.7 medium (2021)[8][note 1]
Decrease 42 out of 100 points (2023)[10] (rank 76th)
Labor force
  • Decrease 779,890,786 (2023)[11] (1st)
  • Increase 67.3% employment rate (2019)[12]
Labor force by occupation
Unemployment
  • Positive decrease 5.2% (December 2023)[13]
  • Positive decrease 14.2% youth unemployment (May 2024, 16 to 24 year olds)[14]
Average gross salary
US$ 1,305 (urban non-private sector)
US$ 747 (urban private sector) per month (2022)
US$ 1,002 (urban non-private sector)
US$ 578 (urban private sector) per month (2022)
Increase 55.7% of GDP (2023)[6]
Increase 42.1% of GDP (2023)[6]
Gross savingsIncrease 43.46% of GDP (2024)[15]
10-Year Bond 2.831% (April 2023)[16]
  • Decrease 49.10 Manufacturing (February 2024)[17]
  • Increase 51.40 Non-Manufacturing (February 2024)[18]
Main industries
External
Exports$3.380 trillion (2023)[19]
Export goods
Main export partners
Imports$2.557 trillion (2023)[19]
Import goods
Main import partners
FDI stock
  • Increase Inward: $181 billion (2021)[21]
  • Increase Outward: $145 billion (2021)[21]
  • Decrease $272.5 billion (2023)[15]
  • Decrease 1.4% of GDP (2023)[15]
Positive decrease $2.38 trillion (September 2023)[citation needed]
Public finances
  • Negative increase ¥103.987 trillion
  • Negative increase 82.9% of GDP (2023)[15]
  • 2.8% of GDP (2023)[22]
Revenues¥33.229 trillion[15]
26.5% of GDP (2023)
Expenses¥42.140 trillion[15]
33.6% of GDP (2023)
  • Scope:[26]
  • A
  • Outlook: Stable
Increase $3.3 trillion (2023)[27][28] (1st)
All values, unless otherwise stated, are in US dollars.


The economy of the People's Republic of China is a developing mixed socialist market economy, incorporating industrial policies and strategic five-year plans.[29] China is the world's second largest economy by nominal GDP, behind the United States, and since 2017 has been the world's largest economy when measured by purchasing power parity (PPP).[30][note 2] China accounted for 19% of the global economy in 2022 in PPP terms,[31] and around 18% in nominal terms in 2022.[31][32] The economy consists of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and mixed-ownership enterprises, as well as a large domestic private sector which contribute approximately 60% of the GDP, 80% of urban employment and 90% of new jobs, the system also consist of a high degree of openness to foreign businesses. According to the annual data of major economic indicators released by the National Bureau of Statistics since 1952, China's GDP grew by an average of 6.17% per year in the 26 years from 1953 to 1978. China implemented economic reform in 1978, and from 1979 to 2023, the country's GDP growth rate grew by an average of 8.93% per year in the 45 years since its implementing economic reform. According to preliminary data released by the authorities, China's GDP in 2023 was CN¥126.06 trillion (US$ 17.89 trillion)[33] with a real GDP increase of at least 5.2% from 2022.[34][35]

China is the world's largest manufacturing industrial economy and exporter of goods. Its production exceeds that of the nine next largest manufacturers combined.[36][37] However, exports as a percentage of GDP has steadily dropped to just around 20%, reflecting its decreasing importance to the Chinese economy. Nevertheless, it remains the largest trading nation in the world and plays a prominent role in international trade.[38][39] Manufacturing has been transitioning toward high-tech industries such as electric vehicles, renewable energy, telecommunications and IT equipment, and services has also grown as a percentage of GDP. It is also the world's fastest-growing consumer market and second-largest importer of goods.[40] China is also the world's largest consumer of numerous commodities, and accounts for about half of global consumption of metals.[41] China is a net importer of services products.[42] China was the largest recipient of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the world as of 2020, receiving inflows of $163 billion.[43] but more recently, inbound FDI has fallen sharply to negative levels.[44][45] It has the second largest outbound FDI, at US$136.91 billion for 2019.[46]

China has the world's largest foreign-exchange reserves worth $3.1 trillion,[47] but if the foreign assets of China's state-owned commercial banks are included, the value of China's reserves rises to nearly $4 trillion.[48] China faced a mild economic slowdown during the 2007–2008 financial crisis and initiated a massive stimulus package, which helped to regain its economic growth. More recently, the imposition of the "3 Red Lines" on developer borrowing has sparked a real estate crisis and has raised questions on the accuracy of China's claims for the severity of this crisis.[49][50][51] China's economic growth is slowing down in the 2020s as it deals with a range of challenges from a rapidly aging population, higher unemployment and a property crisis.[52] China has the world's sixth largest gold reserve, with over 2,000 tonnes of gold.[53] It spends around 2.43% of GDP on advance research and development across various sectors of the economy.[54][55]

With 791 million workers, the Chinese labor force was the world's largest as of 2021, according to The World Factbook. In 2022, China was ranked the 11th most innovative country in the world, 3rd in Asia & Oceania region and 2nd for countries with a population of over 100 million. It is the only middle-income economy and the only newly industrialized economy in the top 30.[56][57] It also leads in several measures of global patent filings,[58][59] as well as research and scientific output.[60] It is also the world's largest high technology exporter.[61] China has the second-largest financial assets in the world, valued at $17.9 trillion as of 2021.[62] As of 2022, China was second in the world in total number of billionaires.[63] and second in millionaires with 6.2 million. China has the largest middle-class in the world, with over 500 million people earning over RMB 120,000 a year.[64]

China has bilateral free trade agreements with many nations and is a member of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).[65] China is widely regarded as the "powerhouse of manufacturing" or "the factory of the world".[66] Of the world's 500 largest companies, 142 are headquartered in China.[67] It has four of the world's top ten most competitive financial centers[68] and three of the world's ten largest stock exchanges (both by market capitalization and by trade volume).[69] Public social expenditure in China was around 10% of GDP.[70] Additionally, the public pension expenditure in China accounted for 5.2% of GDP.[71]

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