| Economy | China |
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Economy - overview:
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Since the late 1970s China has moved from a closed, centrally planned system to a more market-oriented one that plays a major global role - in 2010 China became the world's largest exporter. Reforms began with the phasing out of collectivized agriculture, and expanded to include the gradual liberalization of prices, fiscal decentralization, increased autonomy for state enterprises, creation of a diversified banking system, development of stock markets, rapid growth of the private sector, and opening to foreign trade and investment. China has implemented reforms in a gradualist fashion. In recent years, China has renewed its support for state-owned enterprises in sectors it considers important to "economic security," explicitly looking to foster globally competitive national champions. After keeping its currency tightly linked to the US dollar for years, in July 2005 China revalued its currency by 2.1% against the US dollar and moved to an exchange rate system that references a basket of currencies. From mid 2005 to late 2008 cumulative appreciation of the renminbi against the US dollar was more than 20%, but the exchange rate remained virtually pegged to the dollar from the onset of the global financial crisis until June 2010, when Beijing allowed resumption of a gradual appreciation. The restructuring of the economy and resulting efficiency gains have contributed to a more than tenfold increase in GDP since 1978. Measured on a purchasing power parity (PPP) basis that adjusts for price differences, China in 2010 stood as the second-largest economy in the world after the US, having surpassed Japan in 2001. The dollar values of China's agricultural and industrial output each exceed those of the US; China is second to the US in the value of services it produces. Still, per capita income is below the world average. The Chinese government faces numerous economic challenges, including: (a) reducing its high domestic savings rate and correspondingly low domestic demand; (b) sustaining adequate job growth for tens of millions of migrants and new entrants to the work force; (c) reducing corruption and other economic crimes; and (d) containing environmental damage and social strife related to the economy's rapid transformation. Economic development has progressed further in coastal provinces than in the interior, and approximately 200 million rural laborers and their dependents have relocated to urban areas to find work. One consequence of population control policy is that China is now one of the most rapidly aging countries in the world. Deterioration in the environment - notably air pollution, soil erosion, and the steady fall of the water table, especially in the north - is another long-term problem. China continues to lose arable land because of erosion and economic development. The Chinese government is seeking to add energy production capacity from sources other than coal and oil, focusing on nuclear and alternative energy development. In 2009, the global economic downturn reduced foreign demand for Chinese exports for the first time in many years, but China rebounded quickly, outperforming all other major economies in 2010 with GDP growth around 10%. The economy appears set to remain on a strong growth trajectory in 2011, lending credibility to the stimulus policies the regime rolled out during the global financial crisis. The government vows, in the 12th Five-Year Plan adopted in March 2011, to continue reforming the economy and emphasizes the need to increase domestic consumption in order to make the economy less dependent on exports for GDP growth in the future. However, China has made only marginal progress toward these rebalancing goals. Two economic problems China currently faces are inflation - which, late in 2010, surpassed the government's target of 3% - and local government debt, which swelled as a result of stimulus policies, and is largely off-the-books and potentially low-quality. |
GDP (purchasing power parity):
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$11.3 trillion (2011 est.)
$10.32 trillion (2010 est.)
$9.356 trillion (2009 est.)
note: data are in 2011 US dollars |
GDP - per capita (PPP):
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$8,400 (2011 est.)
$7,700 (2010 est.)
$7,000 (2009 est.)
note: data are in 2011 US dollars |
GDP (official exchange rate):
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$6.989 trillion
note: because China's exchange rate is determine by fiat, rather than by market forces, the official exchange rate measure of GDP is not an accurate measure of China's output; GDP at the official exchange rate substantially understates the actual level of China's output vis-a-vis the rest of the world; in China's situation, GDP at purchasing power parity provides the best measure for comparing output across countries (2011 est.) |
GDP - real growth rate:
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9.5% (2011 est.)
10.3% (2010 est.)
9.2% (2009 est.) |
GDP - composition by sector:
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agriculture: 9.6%
industry: 47.1%
services: 43.3% (2011 est.) |
Investment (gross fixed):
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48.4% of GDP (2011 est.) |
Population below poverty line:
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2.8%
note: 21.5 million rural population live below the official "absolute poverty" line (approximately $90 per year); an additional 35.5 million rural population live above that level but below the official "low income" line (approximately $125 per year) (2007) |
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
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lowest 10%: 3.5%
highest 10%: 15%
note: data are for urban households only (2008) |
Distribution of family income - Gini index:
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41.5 (2007)
40 (2001) |
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
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5.4% (2011 est.)
3.2% (2010 est.) |
Central bank discount rate:
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3.25% (31 December 2010 est.)
2.79% (31 December 2009 est.) |
Commercial bank prime lending rate:
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6.6% (31 December 2011 est.)
5.31% (31 December 2009 est.) |
Stock of money:
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$2.434 trillion (31 December 2008)
$2.09 trillion (31 December 2007) |
Stock of money - per capita:
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1,821 USD per capita |
Stock of quasi money:
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$4.523 trillion (31 December 2008)
$3.437 trillion (31 December 2007) |
Stock of quasi money - per capita:
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3,384 USD per capita |
Stock of domestic credit:
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$10.72 trillion (31 December 2011 est.)
$8.868 trillion (31 December 2010 est.) |
Stock of domestic credit - per capita:
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8,020 USD per capita |
Stock of narrow money:
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$4.861 trillion (31 December 2011 est.)
$4.026 trillion (31 December 2010 est.) |
Stock of broad money:
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$13.23 trillion (31 December 2011 est.)
$10.96 trillion (31 December 2010 est.) |
Labor force:
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816.2 million (2011 est.) |
Labor force participation rate:
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61.06 % of population |
Labor force - by occupation:
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agriculture: 38.1%
industry: 27.8%
services: 34.1% (2008 est.) |
Unemployment rate:
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6.5% (2011 est.)
6.1% (2010 est.)
note: official data for urban areas only; including migrants may boost total unemployment to 9%; substantial unemployment and underemployment in rural areas |
Unemployment, youth ages 15-24:
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void |
Budget:
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revenues: $1.555 trillion
expenditures: $1.681 trillion (2011 est.) |
Budget revenues per capita:
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1,164 USD per capita |
Taxes and other revenues:
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22.3% of GDP (2011 est.) |
Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-):
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-1.8% of GDP (2011 est.) |
Public debt:
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16.3% of GDP (2011 est.)
16.3% of GDP (2010 est.) |
Industries:
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world leader in gross value of industrial output; mining and ore processing, iron, steel, aluminum, and other metals, coal; machine building; armaments; textiles and apparel; petroleum; cement; chemicals; fertilizers; consumer products, including footwear, toys, and electronics; food processing; transportation equipment, including automobiles, rail cars and locomotives, ships, and aircraft; telecommunications equipment, commercial space launch vehicles, satellites |
Industrial production growth rate:
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13% (2011 est.) |
Electricity - production:
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3.759 trillion kWh (2010 est.) |
Electricity - production per capita:
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2,813 kWh per capita |
Electricity - consumption:
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3.438 trillion kWh (2008 est.) |
Electricity - consumption - per capita:
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2,572 kWh per capita |
Electricity - exports:
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19.06 billion kWh (2010) |
Electricity - imports:
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55.45 billion kWh (2010) |
Oil - production:
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4.071 million bbl/day (2010) |
Oil - production per capita:
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3,046 bbl/day per capita |
Oil - consumption:
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9.057 million bbl/day (2010) |
Oil - consumption - per capita:
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2.47 bbl/year per capita |
Oil - exports:
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565,000 bbl/day (2010) |
Oil - imports:
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5.963 million bbl/day (2010) |
Oil - proved reserves:
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20.35 billion bbl (1 January 2011 est.) |
Natural gas - production:
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96.8 billion cu m (2010) |
Natural gas - production per capita:
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73 cu m per capita |
Natural gas - consumption:
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109 billion cu m (2010) |
Natural gas - consumption - per capita:
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82 cu m per capita |
Natural gas - exports:
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3.83 billion cu m (2010) |
Natural gas - imports:
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16.35 billion cu m (2010) |
Natural gas - proved reserves:
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800 billion cu m (1 January 2011 est.) |
Agriculture - products:
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world leader in gross value of agricultural output; rice, wheat, potatoes, corn, peanuts, tea, millet, barley, apples, cotton, oilseed; pork; fish |
Current account balance:
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$280.6 billion (2011 est.)
$305.4 billion (2010 est.) |
Current account balance - per capita:
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210 USD per capita |
Exports:
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$1.897 trillion (2011 est.)
$1.578 trillion (2010 est.) |
Exports per capita:
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1,420 USD per capita |
Exports - commodities:
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electrical and other machinery, including data processing equipment, apparel, textiles, iron and steel, optical and medical equipment |
Exports - partners:
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US 18%, Hong Kong 13.8%, Japan 7.6%, South Korea 4.4%, Germany 4.3% (2010) |
Imports:
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$1.664 trillion (2011 est.)
$1.327 trillion (2010 est.) |
Imports per capita:
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1,245 USD per capita |
Imports - commodities:
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electrical and other machinery, oil and mineral fuels, optical and medical equipment, metal ores, plastics, organic chemicals |
Imports - partners:
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Japan 12.6%, South Korea 9.9%, US 7.3%, Germany 5.3%, Australia 4.3% (2010) |
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
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$3.316 trillion (31 December 2011 est.)
$2.876 trillion (31 December 2010 est.) |
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold - per capita:
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2,481 USD per capita |
Debt - external:
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$635.5 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
$529.2 billion (31 December 2010 est.) |
Debt - external - per capita:
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476 USD per capita |
Stock of direct foreign investment - at home:
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$776 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
$578.8 billion (31 December 2010 est.) |
Stock of direct foreign investment - at home - per capita:
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581 USD per capita |
Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad:
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$373.7 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
$297.6 billion (31 December 2010 est.) |
Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad - per capita:
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280 USD per capita |
Market value of publicly traded shares:
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$4.763 trillion (31 December 2010 est.)
$5.008 trillion (31 December 2009)
$2.794 trillion (31 December 2008 est.) |
Market value of publicly traded shares - per capita:
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3,564 USD per capita |
Currency (code):
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Renminbi (RMB); note - also referred to by the unit yuan (CNY) |
Exchange rates:
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Renminbi yuan (RMB) per US dollar -
6.455 (2011 est.)
6.7703 (2010 est.)
6.8314 (2009)
6.9385 (2008)
7.61 (2007) |
Fiscal year:
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calendar year |
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