General Economy

Gross domestic product (GDP)

GDP for 2004 was 271.208 billion yuan, up 19.4% from the previous year.

GDP ratio (primary, secondary and tertiary industries)

The primary industry yielded a value added of 50.607 billion yuan, 11.7% more than that of the previous year; the secondary industry, 133.247 billion yuan, a growth of 27.5%; the tertiary industry, 87.353 billion yuan, a growth of 13.4%. The proportion of the three sectors is 18.7: 49.1: 32.2.

Revenue and expenditure

Regional revenue was 36.314 billion yuan, an increase of 40.7% over the previous year. Regional expenditure was 59.825 billion yuan, a growth of 27%.

Consumer price index (CPI)

CPI was up 2.9% from the previous year.

Investment in fixed assets

Fixed asset investment was valued at 180.926 billion yuan, up 49.6% from the previous year.

Major Industries

Agriculture

In 2004, the agricultural added value was 50.607 billion yuan, an increase of 11.7% from the previous year.

Industry

The industrial added value totaled 101.566 billion yuan, an increase of 29.8%.

Construction

Its added value was 31.681 billion yuan, up 18.6%.

Transportation

The annual volume of goods handled through various modes of transport was 604.239 million tons, 13.2% up from the previous year while annual passenger flow reached 29.02 billion, 29.9% up.

Postal services

The annual turnover of postal operations totaled 860 million yuan, 1.2% up from the previous year.

Telecommunications

The annual turnover of telecom services was 22.36 billion yuan, 1.24 times the 2003 figure.

Retail

The annual turnover from retail sales reached 89.196 billion yuan, an increase of 19.5% from the previous year.

Tourism

Revenue from domestic tourism totaled 12.409 billion yuan, up 49%. Foreign exchange earnings from the tourism sector totaled US$253 million, up 82.9%.

Continued Effects of Market Reform

Imports & exports

The annual value of imports and exports totaled US$4.049 billion, an increase of 31.6% from the previous year.

Economic and technological cooperation

Overseas project and labor contracts signed during the year were valued at US$560 million, 7.4 times the 2003 figure. Business turnover for the year totaled US$60.82 million, 2.2 times the 2003 figure.

Foreign investment

Foreign direct investment realized in monetary terms was US$627 million, up 70% from the year before.

Urban Construction and Management

Road transport

A total of 23.7 billion yuan were invested in the construction of transportation facilities. Of this amount 20.2 billion yuan were used in the construction of highways. A total of 1,000 km of express highways and first-grade highways had been open to traffic, and the railways which had been open to traffic amounted to 2,500 km at the year-end.

Public services

Investment in the power, fuel gas and water production and supply totaled 40.388 billion yuan, up 120% from the year before.

Social Undertakings

Science and technology

Various technological contracts signed during the year totaled 1,147, and were valued at 1.041 billion yuan.

Education

There were 31 institutions of higher learning at the year-end, a growth of 4 from the 2003 figure. The number of students enrolled in postgraduate schools and institutions of higher learning during the year stood at 2,403 and 70,100 respectively.

Culture

The region had a total of 113 professional performing organizations, 103 cultural centers, 140 archives, 28 museums and 108 public libraries.

Public health

There were a total of 3,775 medical and healthcare institutions equipped with 66,500 beds and staffed with 101,500 medical professionals and technicians at the year-end.

Sports

Athletes from the region won 136 prizes in both international and national competitions.

Welfare and aid

Various welfare units across the region were equipped with 21,900 beds and put up 15,300 homeless and vagrant people. There were 7,468 urban community service facilities at the year-end. The funds raised through selling welfare lottery totaled 65.25 million yuan in 2004. Public donations totaled 11.51 million yuan.

Population, Employment, Social Security and Living Standards

Population

The year 2004 saw births of 227,000, or a birth rate of 9.53‰, and deaths of 142,400, or a mortality rate of 5.98‰. The natural growth rate of the population stood at 3.55‰. At the end of the year, the total population stood at 23.844 million.

Employment

The employed urban population stood at 2.431 million at the end of 2004, a reduction of 13,000 from the previous year-end. A total of 139,200 laid-off workers got re-employed during the year.

Registered unemployment rate

The registered urban unemployment rate was 4.6%.

Social security

In 2004, insurance plans for endowments, unemployment and medical treatment covered a population of 3.188 million, 2.223 million, and 2.733 million respectively. About 736,200 urban residents received minimum living allowances from the government.

Residents' income

The disposable income of urban residents was 8,123 yuan per capita, up 13% from 2003. Rural residents' per capita net income was 2,606 yuan, a growth of 8.6% from the previous year.

Residents' consumption

Urban residents' per capita expenditure was 6,219 yuan, up 11.9% from the previous year while that of rural residents was 2,083 yuan, up 13.2%.

Geography and Natural Conditions

Elevation extremes

Besides hills, plains, deserts, rivers and lakes, Inner Mongolia has plateau landforms, mostly over 1,000 meters above sea level, including the Inner Mongolia Plateau, the second largest among the four major plateaus in the country.

Climate

Inner Mongolia has a temperate continental climate. There, spring is warm and windy; summer is short and hot with many rainy days; autumn usually sees early frost and plummeting temperature; winter is long, bitter cold with frequent polar outbreaks. The region has an annual precipitation of 100-500 mm, 80-150 frost-free days, and 2,700 hours of sunshine. The Greater Hinggan Mountains and the Yinshan Mountains divide the regions into areas with different climate. The area east of the Greater Hinggan Mountains and north of the Yinshan Mountains has lower temperature and less precipitation than the opposite area.

Natural resources

Animals and plants:
Inner Mongolia has 2,351 species of plants including vegetation of arbors, shrubs and herbs. It is home to 117 species of wild animals and 362 species of birds, 49 species of them under state and regional protection and 10 precious and rare.

Hydropower:
Inner Mongolia has water resources of 90.3 billion cubic meters, of which 67.5 billion is surface water. Nearly 1,000 rivers run in the region, 107 rivers averaging a valley area of more than 1,000 sq km each. Moreover, 1,000 lakes dot the region, eight of them with an area of over 100 sq km each. Inner Mongolia boasts mineral water and springs with medical value. It has a total water area of 984,300 ha including 655,000 hectares of fresh water, which accounts for 10.68% of the country's total fresh water area.

Forests, grasslands, and cultivated land:
The region has 7.22 million ha of cultivated land, or 6.11% of the country's total, 86.67 million ha of grasslands, or 73.3% of the country's total, and 18.67 million ha of forests, 15.8% of the country's total.

Minerals:
More than 120 kinds of minerals of the world's total 140 kinds have been found in the region, five of which have the largest deposits in China and 65 of which rank among the top ten of their kinds in the country. The reserves of rare earth amount to 84.59 million tons, or 80% of the world's total and over 90% of the country's total. The proven deposits of coal hit 224.75 billion tons, the second largest in the country. The region has large reserves of ferrous metals, non-ferrous metals, precious metals, and industrial chemicals, and non-metal minerals. It also has abundant oil and natural gas and 13 large oil and gas fields have been discovered with expected oil reserves of 2-3 billion tons and gas reserves of 1,000 billion cubic meters. The minerals (excluding oil and natural gas) in the region have a potential value of 13,000 billion yuan (US$1,570 billion), accounting for 10% of the country's total volume and ranking as the third largest in the country.

Tourism resources

Inner Mongolia is rich in tourist attractions: Colorful ethnic culture, grassland scenery, the virgin forests in the Greater Hinggan Mountains, grand views along the Yellow River, the majestic Xiangsha Gulf, rivers and lakes, and springs. Inner Mongolia is home to the Mausoleum of Genghis Khan, the Zhaojun Tomb, ancient Great Wall, Wudang Monastery at the bottom of the Yinshan Mountains, Wuta Monastery, Bailing Temple, and tomb murals dating back to the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220).