China.org.cn | January 22, 2020
Xinhua News Agency:
As we have observed, China's per capita GDP exceeded $10,000 in 2019 and its gross domestic product was approximately 100 trillion yuan. My question is: How should we interpret these two landmark figures? In other words, do they bring about any change in China's development stage at present? Thank you.
Ning Jizhe:
You have asked a good question. As we have all noticed, China's GDP in 2019 did reach 99.1 trillion yuan, or approximately 100 trillion yuan, which translates to $10,276 per capita based on the average exchange rate. That is to say, our per capita GDP in 2019 did exceed the $10,000 milestone. This not only signified the continuous expansion of the size of our economy, but also marked the stable improvement in the quality of our economy as well as our people's livelihood. The Chinese people's efforts in this regard have not only laid a solid foundation for China's realization of a moderately prosperous society in all respects but also contributed to the development and progress of mankind. Yes, this is of landmark significance, and we can understand it from the following four aspects:
First, this achievement marked the enhancement of China's national strength. China's GDP totaled 99.09 trillion yuan in 2019, which was close to 100 trillion yuan. Converted at the prevailing average annual exchange rate, our GDP in 2019 reached $14.4 trillion, ranking second in the world. Based on our calculation and comparison, this figure is basically equivalent to the sum of the GDPs of Japan, Germany, the UK and France in 2018, which ranked third to sixth respectively in the world that year. China's economy is rapidly developing; it is politically stable, culturally progressive, and socially harmonious; its environment and ecology are fast improving and its national defenses are strong. China's pace of progress cannot be stopped.
Second, this achievement marked the improvement of China's social productivity. Our agricultural foundation has been consolidated. In 2019, the total grain output was 660 million metric tons. This is the highest grain output in Chinese history and has made China the largest grain-producing country in the world. Our industrial system is also continually improving and we have all the industrial classifications in the world. Our infrastructure is more complete. By the end of 2019, the total operating mileage of China's high-speed rail reached 35,000 kilometers, accounting for more than two thirds of the world's total. The length of China's highways reached 140,000 kilometers, ranking first in the world. Our installed power capacity was close to 2 billion KW, also ranking the first in the world. With 860 million internet users, our modern information and communication system is constantly improving.
Third, this achievement marked the improvement of Chinese people's living standards. The improvement in the quality of employment is reflected in the rise of the proportion of residents employed in cities and towns. In 2019, 440 million people were employed in urban areas, accounting for 57.1% of the total employed population, which marked a year-over-year increase of one percentage point. Residents also saw an improvement in their income level and quality. The national per capita disposable income surpassed 30,000 yuan in 2019. This year also witnessed the improvement of people's consumption quality as well as an upgrade of the consumption structure. This can be proved by two data points. The first is that the proportion of service consumption expenditure in per capita consumption expenditure reached 45.9%, marking a year-over-year increase of 1.7 percentage points. The second is that the proportion of income spent on food in total consumption expenditure, which is the Engel Coefficient, was 28.2% in 2019, a year-over-year decrease of 0.2 percentage point. The increase in the consumption of services and decrease in the consumption of food indicate that the overall consumption structure has been upgraded. People's livelihoods have also been improved. Generally speaking, residents now have houses to live in, they use private cars as a convenient means of transportation and an increasing number of people can now afford to travel within and outside China. In 2019, the per capita floor area of residents was close to 40 square meters , and the number of private cars in the country reached 200 million. 2019 also witnessed 5.8 billion Chinese traveling around China and more than 140 million Chinese traveling abroad. This shows that the size of the middle-income group is ever expanding.
Fourth, this achievement marked China's increasing contribution to the development and progress of mankind. According to World Bank data, the combined population of countries with a per capita GDP of more than $10,000 in 2018 was nearly 1.5 billion. As China, with a total population of 1.4 billion, entering the ranks of countries with a per capita GDP of more than $10,000, the world will now have nearly 3 billion people at this income level. This marks a major progress in social and economic development over the course of human history. China, as an emerging developing economy, has made its contribution to the world. That is why we say developing China is in itself contributing to the world at large.
In summary, China's 2019 GDP is expected to account for more than 16% of the world's overall, and the rate of China's contribution to world economic growth is expected to reach approximately 30%. China remains the most powerful engine of world economic growth. China's per capita GDP is now among the ranks of the world's middle-income countries, and its human development index status has further improved.
At the same time, we must see that China's basic national conditions remain clearly unchanged. To be more specific, China is currently in and will remain in the primary stage of socialism for a long time, it still has a large population and under-developed productivity in general; and China still faces the prominent problem of unbalanced and inadequate development. Therefore, our status as the world's largest developing country remains unchanged. Although the gap of per capita GDP between China and higher-income countries is narrowing, we are still among the ranks of middle-income countries. Therefore, we must strive long and hard to build China into a modern socialist country and achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Thank you!