In 2019, in the face of mounting risks and challenges both at home and abroad, China's economy was generally stable, the development reached a new stage with steadily raised quality, people's well-being was further enhanced, social undertakings were prospering, and the ecological environment was generally improved. The key indicators of the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan progressed as expected, and major breakthroughs were made in the completion of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects.

According to preliminary estimation, the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2019 was 99,086.5 billion yuan, up by 6.1 percent over the previous year. Of this total, the value added of the primary industry was 7,046.7 billion yuan, up by 3.1 percent, that of the secondary industry was 38,616.5 billion yuan, up by 5.7 percent and that of the tertiary industry was 53,423.3 billion yuan, up by 6.9 percent. The value added of the primary industry accounted for 7.1 percent of the GDP; that of the secondary industry accounted for 39.0 percent; and that of the tertiary industry accounted for 53.9 percent. The contribution of the final consumption expenditure to GDP was 57.8 percent, that of the gross capital formation 31.2 percent and that of the net exports of goods and services 11.0 percent.

The supply-side structural reform was further pushed forward. The national industrial capacity utilization rate in 2019 reached 76.6 percent, 0.1 percentage points higher than the previous year. The new driving forces continued to grow. Among the industries above the designated size, the value added of the strategic emerging industries grew by 8.4 percent over the previous year and the value added of the high technology manufacturing industry was up by 8.8 percent, accounting for 14.4 percent of that of all industrial enterprises above the designated size. The value added for the manufacture of equipment was up by 6.7 percent, accounting for 32.5 percent of that of all industrial enterprises above the designated size. Among the service enterprises above the designated size, the business revenue of the strategic emerging service industries went up by 12.7 percent compared with the previous year. In 2019, the investment in high technology industries increased by 17.3 percent over the previous year; the investment in industrial technological transformation increased by 9.8 percent. In 2019, the production of service robots reached 3.46 million, up by 38.9 percent compared with the previous year. In 2019, the online retail sales reached 10,632.4 billion yuan, an increase of 16.5 percent over the previous year on a comparable basis.

Regional coordinated development was pushed forward steadily. By regions, in 2019, the gross domestic product in the eastern areas was 51,116.1 billion yuan, an increase of 6.2 percent compared with the previous year; the central areas, 21,873.8 billion yuan, up by 7.3 percent; the western areas, 20,518.5 billion yuan, up by 6.7 percent; and the northeastern areas, 5,024.9 billion yuan, up by 4.5 percent. In 2019, the gross domestic product in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region reached 8,458.0 billion yuan, up by 6.1 percent over the previous year; that in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, 45,780.5 billion yuan, up by 6.9 percent; and that in the Yangtze River Delta, 23,725.3 billion yuan, up by 6.4 percent.

Significant achievement has been made in poverty alleviation. The number of rural population living in poverty at the end of 2019 was 5.51 million, 11.09 million less compared with that at the end of 2018, and the incidence of poverty was 0.6 percent, 1.1 percentage points lower than that of the previous year. In 2019, the per capita disposable income of rural residents in impoverished areas was 11,567 yuan, an increase of 11.5 percent over 2018.

Foreign economic relations

At the end of 2019, China's foreign exchange reserves reached 3,107.9 billion US dollars, an increase of 35.2 billion US dollars compared with that at the end of 2018.

The total value of imports and exports of goods in 2019 reached 31,550.5 billion yuan, up by 3.4 percent over that of the previous year. Of this total, the value of goods exported was 17,234.2 billion yuan, up by 5.0 percent; the value of goods imported was 14,316.2 billion yuan, up by 1.6 percent. The surplus of trade in goods reached 2,918.0 billion yuan, up by 593.2 billion yuan over that of the previous year. The total value of imports and exports between China and countries along the Belt and Road was 9,269.0 billion yuan, an increase of 10.8 percent over that of the previous year. Of the total, the value of goods exported was 5,258.5 billion yuan, an increase of 13.2 percent; that of goods imported was 4,010.5 billion yuan, an increase of 7.9 percent.

The year 2019 witnessed the establishment of 40,888 enterprises (excluding banking, securities and insurance) with foreign direct investment, down by 32.5 percent over that of the previous year, and the foreign direct investment actually utilized totaled 941.5 billion yuan, up by 5.8 percent, or 138.1 billion US dollars, up by 2.4 percent. Specifically, there were 5,591 newly established enterprises receiving direct investment from countries along the Belt and Road, up by 24.8 percent; and foreign capital directly invested in China (including the investment in China via some free ports) reached 57.6 billion yuan, up by 36.0 percent, or 8.4 billion US dollars, up by 30.6 percent. In 2019, the foreign investment actually utilized by high technology industry reached 266.0 billion yuan, up by 25.6 percent, or 39.1 billion US dollars, up by 21.7 percent.

In 2019, the non-financial outbound direct investment reached 763.0 billion yuan, down by 4.3 percent over that of the previous year, or 110.6 billion US dollars, down by 8.2 percent. Of this total, that to countries along the Belt and Road reached 15.0 billion US dollars, down by 3.8 percent.

In 2019, the accomplished business revenue through contracted overseas engineering projects was 1,192.8 billion yuan, up by 6.6 percent over that of the previous year, or 172.9 billion US dollars, up by 2.3 percent. Specifically, the accomplished business revenue from countries along the Belt and Road was 98.0 billion US dollars, an increase of 9.7 percent, accounting for 56.7 percent of the accomplished business revenue through contracted overseas engineering projects. The number of labor forces sent abroad through overseas labor contracts was 490 thousand.