“China has maintained a leading position in the world in both economic development and
epidemic prevention and control. China’s advantage of a super-large market will continue to
deliver benefits and the potential of China’s domestic demand will continue to be unleashed,” said
an official with China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).
In 2021, China continued to be a frontrunner in terms of economic development and COVID-19
containment. To guarantee stable economic operation, various localities and competent
departments across the country rolled out a series of policies and measures to stabilize investment,
stimulate consumption, and facilitate the growth of the domestic market last year.
These policies and measures have helped the country realize continuous recovery in its consumer
market and sustain growth momentum in investment.
Domestic consumption has remained a major driving force for China’s economic development,
contributing 79.1 percent to the country’s economic growth in 2021, up 4.4 percentage points from
the previous year.
“In 2021, the giant vessel of the Chinese economy traveled steadily and far. During the journey,
China’s domestic market continued to expand, supply capacity constantly improved, reform and
opening-up reached deeper levels and broader areas, and people’s living standards were further
raised,” said the official with the NDRC.
These achievements are all helpful for continuously creating favorable conditions and more space
for the growth of domestic consumption in 2022, according to the official.
China’s domestic consumption still has huge potential for growth. In 2021, the country’s gross
domestic product (GDP) expanded 8.1 percent year on year to more than 114 trillion yuan (about
$18 trillion). Meanwhile, China’s per capita GDP exceeded $12,000, which is projected to surpass
the global average.
Last year, China remained the world’s second-largest commodity consumption market. As its new
urbanization strategy was further promoted, the percentage of permanent urban residents in the
country reached 64.72 percent in 2021, up 0.83 percentage points from that at the end of 2020.
Continuous improvement in the quality of supply has guaranteed a smoother virtuous cycle of
supply and demand in China.
In 2021, China deepened supply-side structural reform, promoted the development of industrial
Internet, big data, smart manufacturing and reverse customization, and fostered new industries and
new products at a faster pace.
China has built the world’s largest 5G standalone network. Last year, the country’s shipments of
5G phones amounted to 266 million units, an increase of 63.5 percent from the previous year.
The year 2021 also witnessed fast growth of both the production and sales of new-energy vehicles
(NEVs) in China, with the country’s NEV output and sales surging 159.5 percent and 157.5
percent respectively to around 3.55 million units and 3.52 million units.
“In 2022, China’s advantages of full-fledged industrial system and stable production capacity and
the continuously improving innovation capability of enterprises will play a greater role in leading
and creating domestic consumption,” said the official with the NDRC.
As Chinese people’s living standards have been improved continuously, their consumption desire
has gradually recovered.
Last year, China’s job market remained generally stable, while people’s income continued to rise.
The country added a total of 12.69 million new urban jobs in 2021, 830,000 more than that created
in 2020. At the same time, China’s per capita disposable income generally grew in step with the
country’s economic growth, rising 8.1 percent year on year in real terms.
The country’s social security system continued to improve in 2021. The numbers of people
covered by the country’s basic old-age insurance and basic medical insurance stood at 1.03 billion
and 1.36 billion, with the coverage rates of the two types of insurances exceeding 90 percent and
95 percent, respectively.
In 2021, China’s Engel’s coefficient was 29.8 percent, 0.4 percentage points lower than that of
2020.
Against the backdrop of sporadic resurgence of COVID-19 cases in multiple regions, China has
well protected people’s lives and safeguarded people’s livelihoods, laying a sound foundation for
further boosting the recovery of people’s consumption desire, according to the official with the
NDRC.
As China achieved continuous progress in reform and opening-up, the growth drivers of domestic
consumption gathered greater momentum.
In 2021, China pushed forward with the construction of a unified national market in an orderly
manner, carried out a pilot comprehensive reform of market-based allocation of production
factors, and made plans for building a modern distribution system, further nurturing the vitality of
market entities. The country is home to 150 million market entities, and sees a business activity
rate of around 70 percent.
Thanks to the efforts made by various regions and departments across the country to earnestly
implement policies and measures aimed at stabilizing foreign trade, continue to shorten negative
lists for foreign investment, and facilitate cross-border foreign trade and investment, the country
saw its total imports and exports surpass $6 trillion and actual use of foreign investment exceed
$1.1 trillion last year, both representing new highs in history.
“The benefits of reform and opening-up will continue to be unlocked and inject more driving force
into the growth of domestic consumption,” said the official.
China will continue to deepen the supply-side structural reform and remain steadfast in the
implementation of the strategy of expanding domestic demand, according to the official.
While ensuring strict implementation of science-based and targeted epidemic prevention and
control measures, the country will endeavor to promote continuous recovery of consumption,
actively expand effective investment, and strengthen the endogenous driving forces of economic
development, so as to keep major economic indicators within an appropriate range, added the
official.
