SCIO briefing on China's economic performance in 2019
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E-mail China.org.cn, January 21, 2020
Ning Jizhe:
Ninth, residents' income grew at the same pace as the economy and the urban-rural income ratio continued to narrow.
In 2019, the nationwide per capita disposable income of residents was 30,733 yuan, a nominal increase of 8.9% over the previous year. The growth rate was 0.2 percentage points higher than the previous year, and actual incomes saw a real increase of 5.8% after deducting price factors, which meant they generally grew at the same pace as the growth of the economy and per capita GDP. By permanent residence, the per capita disposable income of urban households was 42,359 yuan, marking a nominal growth of 7.9% and a real growth of 5.0% after deducting price factors. The per capita disposable income of rural households was 16,021 yuan, marking a nominal growth of 9.6% and a real growth of 6.2% after deducting price factors. The per capita disposable income of urban households was 2.64 times that of rural households, a decrease of 0.05 from the previous year. The median of the nationwide per capita disposable income was 26,523 yuan, a nominal increase of 9.0% over the previous year. Looking at the per capita disposable income of nationwide households by income quintiles, the income of the low-income group was 7,380 yuan, the lower-middle-income group 15,777 yuan, the middle-income group 25,035 yuan, the upper-middle-income group 39,230 yuan, and the high-income group 76,401 yuan.
In 2019, the nationwide per capita consumer spending was 21,559 yuan, marking a nominal increase of 8.6%. It grew 0.2 percentage points faster than that of the previous year, and had a real increase of 5.5% after deducting price factors. Specifically, the per capita consumer spending of urban residents was 28,063 yuan, which was a nominal growth of 7.5% while the per capita consumer spending of rural households was 13,328 yuan, marking a nominal growth of 9.9%.
Tenth, key reforms and crucial tasks were further advanced and the country's economic transformation and upgrading maintained its momentum.
Notable achievements were made in supply-side structural reform. In 2019, the industrial capacity utilization rate nationwide was 76.6%, 0.1 percentage points higher than the previous year. Specifically, the industrial capacity utilization rates of extraction of petroleum and natural gas and the smelting and pressing of ferrous metals were 91.2% and 80.0% respectively, or 2.9 percentage points and 2.0 percentage points higher than the previous year. The asset-liability ratio of enterprises also declined. At the end of November, the asset-liability ratio of industrial enterprises above the designated size was 56.9%, or 0.3 percentage points lower year-on-year. At the end of 2019, the floor space of commercial buildings for sale reached 498.21 million square meters, down by 4.9% over the end of the previous year. The unit cost of enterprises also continued to decline compared with early 2019. As for strengthening certain weak areas, the investment in these areas grew fast. In 2019, the investment in ecological protection and the treatment of environmental pollution as well as in environmental monitoring and treatment services increased by 37.2% and 33.4% respectively, and grew 31.8 percentage points and 28.0 percentage points faster than the overall investment. The dynamism of microeconomic entities was also strengthened. In 2019, there was a total of 23.77 million newly registered market entities and an average of 20,000 newly registered enterprises per day. The level of activity reached about 70%. By the end of the year, the number of market entities totaled 120 million. Major breakthroughs were also made in the three critical battles against potential risk, poverty, and pollution. In 2019, a total of 11.09 million rural poor were lifted out of poverty. According to preliminary estimates, the share of consumption of clean energy such as natural gas, hydro power, nuclear power and wind power as part of the total energy consumption was 1.0 percentage point higher compared with the previous year. The energy consumption per 10,000 yuan of GDP continued to decrease compared with the previous year by as much as 2.6%. By the end of November, the outstanding local government debt nationwide was 21.33 trillion yuan, within the limit approved by the National People's Congress.
The economic structure has continued to be optimized. In 2019, the value-added of the tertiary industry accounted for 53.9% of the total GDP. This was 0.6 percentage points higher than the previous year, 14.9 percentage points higher than in the secondary industry and contributed to 59.4% of GDP growth. The role of consumption as the major impetus for economic growth was further consolidated. The final consumption expenditure contributed to 57.8% of GDP growth, 26.6 percentage points higher than the gross capital formation. Household consumption was also upgraded and had improved in quality. In 2019, the national Engel coefficient was 28.2%, 0.2 percentage points lower than in 2018. Service consumption expenditure accounted for 45.9% of per capita household consumption expenditure, 1.7 percentage points higher than that of 2018.
Eleventh, China's population grew steadily, and the urbanization rate continued to rise.
By the end of 2019, the mainland population (including the population in the 31 provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the central government, and PLA personnel, but excluding the population of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Macao Special Administrative Region, Taiwan province and overseas Chinese) stood at 1.4 billion, an increase of 4.67 million from the year before. There were a total of 14.65 million births and 9.98 million deaths reported in 2019, and the birth and death rates reached 10.48 and 7.14 per 1,000, respectively. In terms of gender distribution, there were 715.27 million males and 684.78 million females, putting the gender ratio at 104.45. The working-age population (people aged between 16 to 59) stood at 896.4 million, representing 64% of the total population. About 253.88 million people were registered as being 60 or older, accounting for 18.1% of the population; 176.03 million were 65 or older, which made up 12.6% of the population. There were 848.43 million urban residents, a 17.06 million increase from the previous year. The rural population fell 12.39 million to a total of 551.62 million. The urbanization rate was 60.6%, 1.02 percentage points higher than the previous year. About 280 million people resided in places away from their places of residential registration for over six months, 6.13 million less than the previous year. In particular, the floating population was 236 million, 5.15 million less than in the previous year.
Generally speaking, the national economy in 2019 has sustained stable momentum by pursuing progress while ensuring stability. However, we should also be aware that global economic and trade growth is slowing down and sources of instability and points of risk are increasing. Domestically, the national economy has witnessed a combination of structural, systematic and cyclical problems and is facing mounting downward pressure. As our next stage, we will follow the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, implement the policy decisions and plans of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, and remain committed to the general principle of pursuing progress while ensuring stability. We will also follow the new development approach and push forward high-quality development, continue to pursue supply-side structural reform as our main task, continue to draw strength from reform and opening up, and be committed to winning the three tough battles (preventing financial risks, reducing poverty and tackling pollution). We will also intensify efforts to maintain stability in employment, the financial sector, foreign trade, foreign and domestic investments, and market expectation. Also, we will take coordinated steps to achieve steady growth, advance reform, make structural adjustments, improve living standards, guard against risk and ensure stability. This will allow us to keep the economy performing within an appropriate range, successfully reach our goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and fulfill the 13th Five-Year Plan.
Hu Kaihong:
Thank you, Mr. Ning. Now let's move on to questions. Please identify your media organization before asking your questions.
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