The economic report card for China during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period (2021-2025) commenced with an unprecedented formulation: in the outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth target was set to be "maintained within a reasonable range, with annual targets proposed according to the situation." This not only marked the first time in the history of Five-Year Plans that a qualitative, flexible target was predominantly used but also signaled a profound shift in economic development philosophy: moving away from a singular focus on growth speed towards a systematic pursuit of growth quality, resilience, and sustainability.
During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, China's economy navigated complex environments, overcame difficulties, and advanced steadily, achieving remarkable accomplishments in terms of scale expansion, substantial growth increments, and quality enhancement. According to the latest data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on January 19, over the past 5 years, China's GDP grew from 103.5 trillion yuan in 2020 to 140 trillion yuan in 2025, with an average annual real growth rate of 5.4%, significantly higher than the world's average annual growth rate of about 3.9% during the same period; per capita GDP increased from $10,632 in 2020 to $13,953 in 2025, exceeding $13,000 for three consecutive years and firmly placing China at the forefront of upper-middle-income countries.
"These five years have witnessed new, groundbreaking progress, transformative breakthroughs, and historic achievements. China has become the most stable, reliable, and proactive force for world development," stated Zheng Shanjie, Director of the National Development and Reform Commission, adding, "Looking back at the '14th Five-Year Plan' period, China's comprehensive national strength can be described as having advanced by leaps and bounds."
GDP represents the total market value of all final goods and services produced by a country or region within a specific period (such as a year). It is a core indicator for measuring a country's economic development level and a universally recognized "scale" for economic strength.
Within the framework of a "reasonable range," the practice of "proposing annual targets according to the situation" was vividly demonstrated over the five years, charting a growth curve that highlights the strong resilience of the Chinese economy.
In 2021, propelled by effective pandemic control and a series of policies aimed at boosting consumption and stabilizing investment, China's economy led a strong recovery, achieving high growth of 8.6%. This laid a solid base for the entire five-year cycle and showcased the immense potential of the domestic demand market.
In 2022, facing COVID-19 resurgences, a deep adjustment in the real estate sector, and a complex and severe international environment, economic growth slowed to 3.1%. This year tested the "reasonable range" bottom-line thinking and the depth of the policy toolkit. China's macroeconomic policies intensified counter-cyclical adjustments, utilizing measures such as tax and fee cuts and structural monetary policy tools to effectively stabilize the broader economy and avert a risk of stalling.
In 2023-2024, as societal operations returned to normalcy and the effects of comprehensive economic stabilization policies continued to manifest, economic growth rebounded, with GDP growing 5.4% in 2023 and 5.0% in 2024.
In 2025, as the concluding year, China's economy continued its steady recovery trend, achieving the growth target of 5.0%.
During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, China's economic aggregate successively surpassed the milestones of 110 trillion, 120 trillion, 130 trillion, and 140 trillion yuan, with a total five-year increment exceeding 36 trillion yuan.
Particularly noteworthy is that moving beyond a "GDP-only" mindset and achieving a dialectical unity of "quality" and "quantity" is the core key to understanding the logic of China's economic development during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period.
The Central Economic Work Conference in December 2019 called for "ensuring reasonable economic growth in terms of quantity and steady improvement in quality," placing equal emphasis on both "quality" and "quantity." The Central Economic Work Conference in December 2021 advocated for "promoting steady improvement in the quality of the economy and reasonable growth in quantity," placing "quality" before "quantity," indicating a shift in development priorities. In October 2022, the report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China stated the need to "promote effective enhancement of the quality of the economy and reasonable growth in quantity," changing "steady" to "effective," emphasizing that improvement must yield tangible results and practical effects, thereby deepening the connotation.
During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, China made breakthrough progress in quality transformation, efficiency transformation, and动力 transformation, with the characteristics of high-quality development becoming increasingly evident, and Chinese modernization took solid steps forward.
The quality of development achieved new enhancements. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, China's value-added of the manufacturing sector exceeded 30 trillion yuan annually, with its overall scale ranking first globally for 15 consecutive years, and it led the world in the output of over 200 major industrial products. In 2024, the added value of the "Three New" economy—new industries, new business forms, and new models—accounted for over 18% of GDP. Also in 2024, the added value of core industries in the digital economy as a percentage of GDP reached the 14th Five-Year Plan's anticipatory target of 10% ahead of schedule. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period,全社会研发经费投入 grew at an average annual rate of 10%, with the share of basic research expenditure in R&D spending reaching a record high of 7.08% in 2025. China has ranked first in the world for three consecutive years in the number of top 100 global science and technology innovation clusters.
Structural adjustment achieved new progress. In terms of industrial structure, in 2025, the value-added of the service sector increased by 5.4% year-on-year, contributing 61.4% to national economic growth, up 3.7 percentage points from the previous year; the value-added of equipment manufacturing and high-tech manufacturing accounted for 36.8% and 17.1% of total industrial output above the designated size, respectively. In 2025, China's automobile production and sales both exceeded 34 million units, ranking first globally for 17 consecutive years, with new energy vehicle production and sales both surpassing 16 million units.
Tracing the development trajectory of the past five years, domestic demand has consistently been the primary driver and stabilizing anchor of economic development, with forces for upward growth and positive breakthroughs continuously accumulating. From 2021 to 2024, the average contribution rate of domestic demand to economic growth was 86.4%, within which the average contribution of final consumption expenditure reached 56.2%, an increase of 8.6 percentage points compared to the "13th Five-Year Plan" period.
China's economic development has not only transformed itself but also impacted the world. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, China's contribution to world economic growth remained around 30%, making it the most stable source of growth for the global economy. In 2025, China's exports moved towards new and superior qualities, with exports of high-tech products growing by 13.2% and exports of the "New Three" products surging by 27.1%. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, China's cumulative total import and export volume exceeded 200 trillion yuan, with the 2025 figure growing 41.1% compared to 2020, representing an average annual growth rate of 7.1%.
China is the world's largest manufacturing country, largest trader in goods, largest holder of foreign exchange reserves, largest energy producer, and possesses the largest human resources. It boasts the world's largest middle-income group and social security system, and has built the world's largest number of 5G base stations... In fact, China holds many similar titles of "first," "largest," and "most."
This is a substantial report card—during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, China's economy achieved effective enhancement in quality and reasonable growth in quantity.
Standing at the historical intersection point where the "14th Five-Year Plan" concludes successfully and the planning for the "15th Five-Year Plan" begins, we reflect on the present and plan for the future. Zheng Shanjie's summary and outlook are plain yet powerful: "Looking back on these five years of the '14th Five-Year Plan,' we encountered more difficulties and problems than anticipated, yet the results and achievements we obtained are better than expected. The development prospects for the '15th Five-Year Plan' will be even brighter."
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