How should cross-regional business activities be counted? How can the Consumer Price Index (CPI) keep up with new consumption trends? How will statistical reform proceed during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period? How will the Fourth National Agricultural Census support comprehensive rural revitalization? On September 21, the 17th China Statistical Open Day was held in Jiamusi City, Heilongjiang Province, under the theme "Advancing the Great '15th Five-Year Plan' — Statistics Opens a New Chapter," building a bridge for communication between statistical departments and the public, allowing more people to approach statistics, understand statistics, and support statistics.
The "Statistical Reform and Development '15th Five-Year Plan'" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan") was recently released. Kang Yi, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Director of the National Bureau of Statistics, stated that the "15th Five-Year Plan" period is a critical phase for laying a solid foundation and making comprehensive efforts toward basically achieving socialist modernization. The National Bureau of Statistics will focus on implementing arrangements, meeting demands, providing precise services, and improving quality and efficiency, continuously strengthening statistical capacity building, deepening reform in key statistical areas, and better serving Chinese-style modernization through statistical modernization.
Institutional Methods Continue to Improve
Statistics serve as the "barometer" and "wind vane" of economic and social development. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the National Bureau of Statistics focused on improving statistical data quality, continuously refining statistical institutional methods, persistently optimizing statistical monitoring and analysis, deepening reform in key statistical areas, improving the statistical legal supervision system, and accelerating statistical informatization. New situations and changes in economic and social development have been better reflected.
Improving statistical standards has made statistical coverage more comprehensive. For example, the "14th Five-Year Plan" outline for the first time listed the added value of core industries of the digital economy as a share of GDP as an important indicator. "Looking globally, there was no mature accounting standard available for direct reference at that time. Moreover, the digital economy encompasses complex and diverse business forms. How to objectively and accurately measure a large number of invisible new economic activities was a worldwide challenge with no ready-made answer," said Gu Yali, Director of the Industrial Accounting Division of the National Economic Accounting Department at the National Bureau of Statistics. Since 2024, the National Bureau of Statistics has formally established a regular accounting and publication mechanism for digital economy added value, conducting comprehensive and precise measurement of China's digital economy development. It not only accounts for core industries but also for integrated industries, becoming the world's first official statistical agency to publish "broad-caliber" added value data.
Optimizing statistical systems has made statistical data more precise. Zeng Fei, Director of the Department Management Division of the Statistical Design and Management Department at the National Bureau of Statistics, introduced that the National Bureau of Statistics actively promotes statistical reform based on the location where business entity activities occur, strengthening localized statistical accounting of industrial activity units. Currently, statistical accounting based on the location of cross-provincial business entity activities has achieved basically full coverage, and reform tasks at the national level have been basically completed. In terms of continuously improving the full-caliber consumption statistical system, since the "14th Five-Year Plan," indicators such as online retail sales of goods and services and total retail sales of social consumer goods and services have been successively released, providing a more comprehensive reflection of new developments in the consumer market.
In the view of Wang Xinliang, a cadre from the Operation Monitoring and Coordination Division of the Heilongjiang Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology, the foundational role of statistical data in improving industrial policy has been significantly enhanced. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, Heilongjiang Province promoted the construction of a modern industrial system and established 22 industry task forces. "How large is the industry scale, what is the development trend, and which are the key enterprises — without clarity on these basic pieces of information, it would be impossible to determine where policies should be directed," Wang Xinliang said. To this end, the Heilongjiang Provincial Bureau of Statistics has continuously improved the "4567" modern industrial statistical monitoring system. With the support of industrial data, industrial special action plans led by the Department of Industry and Information Technology have been implemented successively.
Upgrading survey methods can make censuses more efficient. In recent years, the National Bureau of Statistics has accelerated statistical informatization, deepening the application of artificial intelligence, remote sensing technology, and big data in statistical fields such as industry, agriculture, and prices. Dong Lijuan, Director of the Circulation and Consumption Price Division of the Urban Social and Economic Survey Department at the National Bureau of Statistics, introduced that using the statistical cloud platform, the National Bureau of Statistics can directly view 2 million pieces of basic data nationwide each month and directly aggregate and calculate the national CPI. It can adjust specification items and survey outlets monthly to reflect changes in consumption structure more promptly, and can aggregate data for any period and any region, better leveraging the role of price monitoring and early warning. Currently, the proportion of big data applications in CPI surveys has increased to 27%, with 100% coverage across provinces. There are 44 basic categories for nationwide centralized collection of online prices, accounting for about 16% of all 268 basic categories; more than 80% of basic categories use enterprise scanner data and administrative records. "The reformed CPI statistical survey is more responsive to changes in consumption patterns, significantly improving data production efficiency, further reducing the burden on grassroots levels, and also putting China's CPI big data application at the forefront globally," Dong Lijuan said.
Accelerating Reform in Key Areas
The "Plan" proposes actively building a statistical survey system compatible with the trend of digital-intelligent transformation, coordinating the advancement of statistical theoretical innovation, institutional innovation, practical innovation, and technological innovation, continuously enhancing statistical survey, statistical supervision, and statistical analysis capabilities, and promoting new achievements in serving Chinese-style modernization through statistical modernization.
Tang Weiwei, Director of the General Office (Department of International Cooperation and Policy Research) of the National Bureau of Statistics, introduced that the "Plan" mainly embodies "four focuses and four more emphases."
Focusing on implementing arrangements, with greater emphasis on effective alignment with the "15th Five-Year Plan" outline. Statistics are important comprehensive and foundational work for economic and social development. Only by positioning and planning statistical work within the overall context of Party and national development, and fully, accurately, and comprehensively understanding the strategic considerations and work requirements of the Party Central Committee's various arrangements, can statistics better play its functional role. Where the nation has needs, statistics follows. For example, for major arrangements such as building a modern industrial system, building a strong domestic market, and accelerating agricultural and rural modernization, the "Plan" has made detailed arrangements in statistical institutional method design and statistical monitoring analysis.
Focusing on meeting demands, with greater emphasis on timely reflection of new practices in economic and social development. Currently, new industries, new business forms, and new models are emerging endlessly. Many new situations and changes have appeared in China's economic and social development. Party committees and governments at all levels and the general public urgently need authentic, accurate, rich, and detailed statistical information to assist decision-making and understand development conditions. According to reports, during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, the National Bureau of Statistics will organize the revision of the "Industrial Classification of the National Economy" and coordinate the formulation and revision of related derived industry statistical classifications, providing standard basis for scientifically reflecting the development of new economies and new fields. For matters of general concern such as national economic accounting, service industry statistical monitoring, and full-caliber consumption statistics, the "Plan" has also made arrangements. At the same time, statistical monitoring of future industries, new quality productive forces, and other areas will be carried out.
Focusing on precise services, with greater emphasis on actively responding to the people's new expectations for a better life. The people's expectations for improving quality of life are becoming more urgent, and their demands for employment, education, healthcare, elderly care, childcare, and other livelihood supply guarantees are becoming more diverse. According to reports, the "Plan" adheres to the people-centered development philosophy, makes dedicated chapter arrangements for strengthening statistics in social livelihood areas, and proposes multiple tasks including building and improving a statistical monitoring indicator system for high-quality population development, improving statistics on new employment forms, and improving statistical monitoring systems for elderly care undertakings and the silver economy, providing reliable statistical support for promoting policy formulation in the social sector and improving people's well-being.
Focusing on improving quality and efficiency, with greater emphasis on enhancing the internal driving force for statistical development. Regarding some shortcomings and weaknesses in the statistical work field, the "Plan" has also responded. For example, it proposes strengthening the coordinated design of national, departmental, and local statistical survey systems, establishing a regular mechanism for interpreting statistical indicators, exploring statistical applications of frontier technologies such as artificial intelligence, and doing well in statistical data release, interpretation, and statistical popularization, making statistical indicators easier to understand, statistical data easier to use, and statistical work more efficient.
Comprehensively Ascertaining the "Three Rural" Foundation
The Fourth National Agricultural Census is the top priority of statistical work in the opening year of the "15th Five-Year Plan." As a major national survey to comprehensively ascertain the foundation of "three rural" issues in the new era, the census will provide accurate statistical information support for scientifically formulating "three rural" policies, promoting comprehensive rural revitalization, accelerating agricultural and rural modernization, and building an agricultural powerhouse.
Currently, the "Fourth Agricultural Census" is being steadily and orderly advanced. New census content and new census methods are important features of the "Fourth Agricultural Census." On the basis of ascertaining the "three rural" foundation, the "Fourth Agricultural Census" will investigate new situations such as diversified food supply, agricultural new quality productive forces, and the construction of livable, business-friendly, and beautiful villages, comprehensively reflecting the process of agricultural and rural modernization.
Once the "Great Northern Wilderness," now the "Great Northern Granary." In the modern agriculture ten-thousand-mu rice technology demonstration park in Fujin City, Jiamusi, contiguous rice fields spread across the black soil of the Sanjiang Plain, golden everywhere, with a bumper harvest in sight. This is Heilongjiang Province's first "rice sea and pastoral complex" featuring modern large-scale agriculture, which has built a full-process intelligent management system through the application of the Internet of Things, cloud computing, and big data. "Agricultural production has changed dramatically! Take fertilizing, for example — in the past it was carrying on shoulders and backs, now we use drones, several minutes per sortie, greatly improving efficiency," said Liu Chun, Chairman of the Fujin Northeast Paddy Field Modern Agricultural Machinery Professional Cooperative. Since 2013, Liu Chun has led farmers in exploring the path of scaled operation, and now full-process agricultural mechanized operations have been achieved. He told reporters that he looks forward to learning about the development status of agricultural new quality productive forces through the "Fourth Agricultural Census" and promoting the application of more new technologies and new products in agricultural production.
"The technological content of this census is the highest among all previous censuses. We will comprehensively apply new technologies such as satellite remote sensing and artificial intelligence, achieving digitalization throughout the entire process," said Lan Xiang, a cadre from the Central Office of the "Fourth Agricultural Census" at the National Bureau of Statistics. In particular, for the sown area of major grain crops and bulk economic crops, full-coverage and precise remote sensing measurement will be carried out, achieving "determining numbers by maps" for the first time, which is also a first in global agricultural censuses.
According to reports, in terms of census methods, the "Fourth Agricultural Census" adopts a combination of comprehensive census and sample survey, and a combination of long forms and short forms. Most ordinary farming households fill out short forms with relatively streamlined content; a small number of households fill out long forms with more detailed content. This ensures the comprehensiveness of data while also taking into account the depth and efficiency of the survey, and effectively reduces the burden on grassroots levels.
Only when data is clearly ascertained can policies be accurately implemented; only when the foundation is understood can development be more confident. "The agricultural census held once every 10 years is like taking a high-definition family photo of the 'three rural' issues. We must report the most truthful numbers from the fields and bring back the most precise national policies, so that every piece of census data becomes tangible benefits that people can feel," said Qi Xiaodong, Party Branch Secretary of Guyushu Village, Muling City, Mudanjiang, Heilongjiang Province.
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