On February 28th, the National Bureau of Statistics officially released the “Communiqué on National Economic and Social Development of the People’s Republic of China in 2025”. It made clear that as the final year of the 14th Five-Year Plan, China’s economy maintained a steady progress amid pressures and moved towards high-quality development. The annual gross domestic product (GDP) reached 14,018.79 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.0%, successfully achieving the expected development goals.
The communiqué shows that the three industries developed in coordination, with the added value of the tertiary industry accounting for 57.7%, becoming the main driving force for economic growth. Among them, the added value of the equipment manufacturing industry and the high-tech manufacturing industry increased by 9.2% and 9.4% respectively. The output of products related to new productive forces such as service robots and servers grew by more than 12%, demonstrating remarkable results in industrial upgrading. A total of 12.67 million new urban jobs were created throughout the year, and the average urban surveyed unemployment rate was 5.2%, with continuous strengthening of people’s livelihood security.
The price level remained stable, with the consumer price index (CPI) unchanged from the previous year, and foreign exchange reserves remained above 3.35 trillion US dollars. Solid progress was made in coordinated regional development, with positive GDP growth in the eastern, central and western regions, and the full-island customs closure operation of Hainan Free Trade Port was launched. Remarkable achievements were made in green and low-carbon transformation: carbon dioxide emissions per 10,000 yuan of GDP decreased by 5.0%, the output of new energy vehicles increased by 25.1%, and the growth rate of clean energy power generation reached 14.4%.
This communiqué fully demonstrates the resilience and vitality of China’s economy, lays a solid foundation for the implementation of the 15th Five-Year Plan, and injects Chinese momentum into the global economic recovery.
