China's economy has scaled new heights through persistent efforts! On January 19, the National Bureau of Statistics released China's 2025 economic report card, presenting a series of encouraging data points: preliminary calculations indicate that the 2025 gross domestic product reached 140,187.9 billion yuan, surpassing the 140 trillion yuan threshold. Calculated at constant prices, this represents a 5.0% year-on-year growth, with per capita GDP exceeding $13,000 for three consecutive years. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China's economic aggregate successively broke through the 110 trillion, 120 trillion, 130 trillion, and 140 trillion yuan marks, achieving four consecutive leaps. With an average annual growth rate of 5.4%, China continued to outpace other major global economies. "This represents a truly remarkable achievement, fully demonstrating the stable yet progressive momentum of China's economy, its resilience under pressure, and its vitality in pursuing innovation and quality," stated Kang Yi, Commissioner of the National Bureau of Statistics.
Reviewing the year 2025, China's economy advanced under pressure, focusing on innovation and quality improvement, successfully achieving all major expected targets. The "stable" foundation was further consolidated. The economic aggregate steadily increased, the employment situation remained generally stable, and foreign exchange reserves exceeded $3.3 trillion. The "progressive" strides became more forceful. Economic restructuring and optimization continued, with the value-added of high-tech manufacturing above the designated size rising to 17.1% of the total industrial value-added above designated size. Final consumption expenditure contributed over 50% to economic growth. Reform and opening-up deepened persistently, with the total value of goods imports and exports growing 3.8% compared to the previous year. Livelihood safeguards were robust and effective, with per capita disposable income of residents achieving a real growth of 5.0%.
New drivers of growth were cultivated and strengthened. The intensity of nationwide R&D expenditure reached 2.8%, and the value-added of digital product manufacturing above the designated size grew by 9.3% year-on-year. The "resilient" character of the economy became increasingly prominent. High-tech, high-value-added products became the main contributors to export growth, with the export value of high-tech products increasing by 13.2% compared to the previous year.
Reflecting on the entire five-year span of the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China's economy effectively navigated a series of major risks and challenges, steadily climbing slopes and overcoming hurdles to grow stronger. The economic foundation became more solid, enhancing its ability to withstand risks. Grain output stabilized above the 1.4 trillion jin mark for two consecutive years, and the value-added of the manufacturing sector remained the world's largest for the 16th consecutive year. The quality of high-quality development improved further, with more stable progress. New breakthroughs were made in innovation-driven development; during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, nationwide R&D expenditure grew at an average annual rate of 10%, and the value-added of high-tech manufacturing above the designated size grew at an average annual rate of 9.2%. Green transformation showcased a new outlook, with the share of non-fossil energy consumption increasing from 16% in 2020 to over 20% in 2025. New achievements were made in improving people's livelihoods; during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the per capita disposable income of residents achieved an average annual real growth of 5.4%, keeping pace with economic growth.
"During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, China's development environment will face profound and complex changes, but the fundamentals of long-term economic improvement remain unchanged. The strengthening momentum of innovation-driven development and the deepening advancement of reform and opening-up will support the achievement of new results in high-quality development," Kang Yi stated.
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