On February 28, the National Bureau of Statistics released the Statistical Communiqué of the People's Republic of China on National Economic and Social Development in 2024. According to the communiqué, in 2024, China's economic operation will be generally stable and progressive, with solid progress in high-quality development, steady development of new quality productivity, solid and effective protection of people's livelihood, and new solid steps in Chinese-style modernization.
What are the important messages in the communiqué? Jingtai helps you decipher.
Interpretation 1: 5% growth: showing the resilience and potential of a major country
Sheng Laiyun, deputy director of the National Bureau of Statistics, said, "In 2024, China's economic growth will reach 5%, successfully completing the main goals and tasks of economic and social development. "Against the backdrop of increasing external pressures and internal challenges, it is not easy to achieve this growth target, which fully demonstrates the resilience and potential of China's economy.
Forge ahead under pressure
Sheng Laiyun pointed out that in the face of the complex and changeable economic situation, the CPC Central Committee has strengthened macroeconomic regulation and control according to the conditions of the time and the trend, and decisively deployed a series of incremental policies. These powerful policy combinations have promoted a significant rebound in economic performance and effectively boosted social confidence. In particular, the year-on-year GDP growth in the fourth quarter of 2024 reached 5.4%, 0.8 percentage points faster than the third quarter, which not only helped to achieve the annual target, but also laid a solid foundation for this year's development.
Production and demand work together
This achievement is due to the joint development of production and demand. From the perspective of production, in 2024, the total industrial added value will increase by 5.7% over the previous year, contributing 34.1% to economic growth, an increase of 12.7 percentage points, and the added value of the service industry will also increase by 5% over the previous year, contributing 56.2% to economic growth. On the demand side, domestic demand contributed 69.7% to economic growth, continuing to be the main driving force for economic growth. Net exports of goods and services contributed 30.3 percent to economic growth, a significant increase from the previous year.
The strength and resilience of a major country have been demonstrated
The 5% growth not only pushes China's total economic output to a new level of 130 trillion yuan, but also means that China has more resources to strengthen infrastructure construction, promote scientific and technological innovation and improve social and people's livelihood, so as to continuously consolidate the foundation for stable economic development. Sheng Laiyun emphasized, "Looking at the world, China's economic growth rate of 5% ranks among the top major economies, and the economic increment created is equivalent to the total economic volume of a medium-sized economy in a year, and the contribution rate to global economic growth is expected to reach about 30%. ”
Interpretation 2: Conversion of old and new kinetic energy and green transformation
Sheng Laiyun, deputy director of the National Bureau of Statistics, pointed out that "at present, China's economic development is at a critical stage of transforming old and new kinetic energy. All parties need to anchor the primary task of high-quality development, coordinate the relationship between cultivating new drivers and updating old ones, develop new quality productivity according to local conditions, and promote the smooth transition of new and old drivers. ”
The ability of scientific and technological innovation has been improved, and emerging industries have flourished
In 2024, China's scientific and technological innovation capabilities will continue to increase, and emerging industries will grow rapidly. The intensity of R&D expenditure reached 2.68%, an increase of 0.1 percentage points over the previous year and exceeded the average level of EU countries, of which basic research expenditure increased by 10.5%. The industrialization rate of effective invention patents of enterprises reached 53.3%, and the turnover of national technology contracts increased by 11.2%. The added value of equipment manufacturing and high-tech manufacturing above designated size accounted for 34.6 percent and 16.3 percent respectively.
New energy vehicles lead the world, and green transformation shows a new atmosphere
In 2024, China's new energy vehicle production will reach 13.17 million units, becoming the world's first country with an annual output of more than 10 million new energy vehicles. Preliminary estimates show that carbon dioxide emissions per 10,000 yuan of GDP decreased by 3.4% compared with the previous year, and after deducting raw material energy consumption and non-fossil energy consumption, energy consumption per 10,000 yuan of GDP decreased by 3.8%. In addition, the average proportion of days with good air quality in 339 cities at and above the prefecture level was 87.2%, an increase of 1.7 percentage points over the previous year. These data show that China's green transformation is showing a new atmosphere, and the background of high-quality development is more distinct.
Reform and opening up have promoted sustained economic growth
Reform and opening up, as the fundamental driving force for economic development, is also an important magic weapon for coping with various risks and challenges. In 2024, the total retail sales of consumer goods and the investment in fixed assets will reach 48.3 trillion yuan and 52.1 trillion yuan, respectively. The number of newly established business entities reached 27.37 million throughout the year, and the average number of new enterprises established per day was 24,000. At the end of the year, the urbanization rate of the permanent population reached 67%. China has strengthened its development momentum by comprehensively deepening reforms, and the pace of reform has been steady and rapid.
In the face of the challenges of anti-globalization ideology and trade protectionism, China has unswervingly expanded its opening up to the outside world. At present, China has become a major trading partner of more than 150 countries and regions around the world. In 2024, the total import and export volume of goods will reach 43.8 trillion yuan, a record high, and it will maintain its position as the largest country in global goods trade for eight consecutive years.
Interpretation 3: Stable employment and vigorous development of social undertakings
Sheng Laiyun, deputy director of the National Bureau of Statistics, pointed out that "employment is the biggest livelihood of the people, and although structural employment pressure still exists, the overall employment situation remains stable thanks to the expansion of economic aggregates, structural optimization and upgrading, and the efforts of employment stabilization policies." "In 2024, the average surveyed urban unemployment rate will be 5.1%, down 0.1 percentage points from the previous year, and the number of new urban jobs will reach 12.56 million, remaining above 12 million for four consecutive years.
Social undertakings are thriving
At the same time, China's social undertakings are also showing a trend of vigorous development. In 2024, the consolidation rate of nine-year compulsory education and the gross enrolment rate at the senior secondary level will reach 95.9% and 92.0% respectively, both of which are 0.2 percentage points higher than the previous year. Significant progress has also been made in the field of medical and health care, with the number of beds in medical and health institutions and the number of health technicians reaching 10.37 million and 12.95 million respectively at the end of the year, an increase from the end of the previous year. In addition, the number of people covered by basic old-age insurance has reached 1.07 billion, and the number of people covered by basic medical insurance has reached 1.33 billion, and the social security net has been further tightly woven.
The ability to guarantee food and energy security has been improved
In 2024, China's total grain output will exceed the 1.4 trillion jin mark for the first time, and the energy self-sufficiency rate will remain above 80%, ensuring the country's food and energy resource security. In terms of the real estate market, in December 2024, among the 70 large and medium-sized cities in the country, the number of cities with a month-on-month increase in the sales price of newly built commercial residential buildings was 23, an increase of 6 from November, and this number further rose to 24 in January this year. These data show that the risk mitigation work in key areas is orderly and effective, which provides strong support for the stable operation of China's economy under pressure.
It is both an opportunity and a challenge
In the future, Sheng Laiyun believes that the internal and external environment facing China's development is still complex and severe, the adverse impact of changes in the external environment is deepening, and the domestic economic operation is facing challenges such as insufficient effective demand. However, these problems are in the throes of China's efforts to promote high-quality development and the industry to move towards the middle and high-end, and they are problems in development and progress. On the whole, China's development opportunities outweigh challenges, and favorable conditions outweigh unfavorable factors. China's development foundation is solid, its advantages are obvious, its resilience is strong, and its potential is huge, and the basic trend of long-term improvement has not changed, nor has the general trend of high-quality development. "Time" and "potential" are still on our side.
