Promoting Development in the Face of Adversity A new situation has been opened in the midst of change
Review of the Statistical Bulletin of National Economic and Social Development in 2021
Sheng Laiyun, deputy director of the National Bureau of Statistics
2021 is a landmark year in the history of the party and the country. This year, in the face of the century-old changes and the epidemic situation of the century, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core took charge of the overall situation, responded calmly, united and led the people of the whole country to forge ahead, overcome difficulties, the mainland's economic development and epidemic prevention and control maintained a global leader, new steps were taken in building a new development pattern, high-quality development achieved new results, a moderately prosperous society was built in an all-round way as scheduled, the first centenary goal was achieved, a new journey of comprehensively building a modern socialist country began, and a new chapter in the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation was written. The newly released "2021 National Economic and Social Development Statistical Communiqué" comprehensively shows the new achievements made by the people of all ethnic groups in the country in unity and struggle in the past year, and vividly records the new achievements made on the road of forging ahead.
First, the national economy has continued to recover, and its comprehensive national strength has been further enhanced
In the face of multiple challenges such as the complex international environment, the epidemic situation and extreme weather, all regions and departments have coordinated the prevention and control of the epidemic and economic and social development in accordance with the decision-making and deployment of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, increased the cross-cycle adjustment of macro policies, sustained recovery of the national economy, and raised the level of development to a new level.
New breakthroughs have been made in the total economic volume and per capita level. In 2021, the mainland's gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 8.1% over the previous year, an average growth of 5.1% in two years, ranking among the world's major economies; the economic scale exceeded 110 trillion yuan, reaching 114.4 trillion yuan, ranking second largest economy in the world. The per capita GDP exceeded 80,000 yuan. In 2021, the per capita GDP of the mainland will reach 80,976 yuan, which will be converted into 12,551 US dollars at the average annual exchange rate, exceeding the world's per capita GDP level.
Industrial development resilience is highlighted. Agricultural production is steadily improving. In 2021, the added value of the mainland's primary industry increased by 7.1% over the previous year, maintaining rapid growth. Animal husbandry production grew steadily, and the output of pigs, cattle, sheep and poultry meat in 2021 increased by 16.3% over the previous year. The manufacturing industry is developing well. In 2021, the added value of the manufacturing industry was 31.4 trillion yuan, an increase of 9.8% over the previous year, accounting for 27.4% of GDP, an increase of 1.1 percentage points over the previous year. The output of major industrial products ranks first in the world. In 2021, the output of microcomputers, mobile phones, automobiles and steel products in the mainland will reach 470 million units, 1.66 billion units, 26.53 million units and 1.34 billion tons respectively, continuing to remain the world's first. The service sector is gradually recovering. In 2021, the added value of the tertiary industry increased by 8.2% over the previous year.
The results of infrastructure construction are obvious. The transportation network is more perfect. In 2021, the mileage of new high-speed railways and newly reconstructed highways will reach 2168 kilometers and 9028 kilometers respectively. Increased power production capacity。 By the end of 2021, the country's installed power generation capacity will reach 2.38 billion kilowatts, an increase of 7.9% over the end of the previous year. The information and communication network has been continuously strengthened, and the service capacity has been steadily improved. At the end of 2021, there were 9.96 million mobile phone base stations nationwide, of which 1.43 million were 5G base stations; 1.399 billion cellular IoT end users, an increase of 264 million households over the end of the previous year; and 221.6 billion GB of mobile Internet user access traffic in the whole year, an increase of 33.9% over the previous year.
International influence continues to expand. In 2021, according to the average annual exchange rate, the total economic volume of the mainland will reach 17.7 trillion US dollars, which is expected to account for more than 18% of the world economy and contribute about 25% to world economic growth. The mainland's trade in goods and foreign exchange reserves rank first in the world, and the scale of service trade, foreign investment and consumer markets ranks among the top in the world, which has played an irreplaceable and important role in promoting the recovery of world economy and trade and maintaining the stability of the global industrial chain and supply chain.
Second, the comprehensive reform continues to deepen, and the vitality of innovation is continuously released
In order to break through the shortcomings of scientific and technological support and consolidate the foundation for the development of the real economy, the mainland has continued to deepen the reform of "decentralization and management of services", steadily promoted the construction of a high-standard market system, continuously strengthened the innovation drive, the role of science and technology in promoting development has been increasingly enhanced, and new momentum has been cultivated and strengthened.
Market players have increased. The business environment has been continuously improved, the implementation of the bailout policy to help enterprises has been accelerated, and new market players have continued to emerge. In 2021, there will be 28.87 million newly registered market entities, an average of 25,000 newly registered enterprises per day, and the total number of market entities at the end of the year will reach 150 million. Fiscal and financial support for the real economy has increased. In 2021, the new tax reduction and fee reduction will be about 1.1 trillion yuan; the Beijing Stock Exchange will be inaugurated, opening up a new world of direct financing for innovative small and medium-sized enterprises.
Innovation investment has increased its effectiveness. In 2021, the national research and experimental development (R&D) expenditure was 2,786.4 billion yuan, an increase of 14.2% over the previous year, and the ratio to gdp was 2.44%, an increase of 0.03 percentage points over the previous year. Innovation support has been intensified, and mass entrepreneurship and innovation have developed in depth. By the end of 2021, the National Science and Technology Achievements Transformation Guidance Fund has set up a total of 36 sub-funds, with a total fund size of 62.4 billion yuan. In 2021, the number of patents granted increased by 26.4% over the previous year, and the number of high-value invention patents per 10,000 population at the end of the year reached 7.5.
The strategic scientific and technological forces have accelerated their growth. Major original achievements have been made in the basic frontier fields, and Zu ChongZhi No. 2 and Jiuzhang No. 2 have been successfully developed to achieve the superiority of quantum computing in two physical systems: superconducting quantum and optical quantum. New progress has been made in strategic high-tech, "Tianwen-1" has started a journey to Mars, "Xihe" has achieved a breakthrough in solar exploration zero, "Shenzhou 13" and "Tianhe" core modules have successfully docked, and "Haidou-1" full-sea deep submersible has broken many world records. In 2021, the comprehensive ranking of mainland countries' innovation ability rose to 12th in the world.
The development of new kinetic energy is growing well. New industries and new products are growing rapidly. In 2021, the added value of high-tech manufacturing above designated size increased by 18.2% over the previous year, 8.6 percentage points faster than that of industries above designated size; the operating income of strategic emerging service enterprises increased by 16.0% over the previous year; and the output of new energy vehicles and integrated circuits increased by 152.5% and 37.5% respectively over the previous year. New formats and models are booming. In 2021, the online retail sales of physical goods increased by 12.0% over the previous year, accounting for 24.5% of the total retail sales of consumer goods.
Third, the economic structure has been adjusted and optimized, and the coordination of development has been steadily improved
Under the impact of the epidemic, the problem of unbalanced and insufficient development has become prominent, and the mainland has actively implemented the strategy of expanding domestic demand, vigorously promoted supply-side structural reform, steadily promoted rural revitalization and new urbanization, deeply implemented major regional strategies and regional coordinated development strategies, and made new progress in structural adjustment and transformation and upgrading of the mainland.
Industrial upgrading is moving steadily. The manufacturing industry is moving towards the middle and high end. In 2021, the added value of the equipment manufacturing industry increased by 12.9% over the previous year, 3.3 percentage points faster than that of industries above designated size, accounting for 32.4% of industries above designated size. The modern service industry has developed rapidly. In 2021, the contribution rate of service industry growth to economic growth was 54.9%, 16.5 percentage points higher than that of the secondary industry; the added value of information transmission, software and information technology service industries increased by 17.2% over the previous year, significantly faster than that of all service industries.
The demand structure continues to improve. The contribution of domestic demand to economic growth is dominant. The contribution rate of domestic demand to economic growth in 2021 was 79.1%, of which the contribution rate of final consumption expenditure was 65.4%, which was 51.7 percentage points higher than that of total capital formation. The consumption structure continues to upgrade. In 2021, the Engel coefficient of residents nationwide was 29.8%, down 0.4 percentage points from the previous year; the per capita service consumption expenditure of residents increased by 17.8% over the previous year, accounting for 44.2% of the per capita consumption expenditure of residents, an increase of 1.6 percentage points over the previous year. Investment in areas of weakness has been strengthened. In 2021, investment in high-tech industries and social fields increased by 17.1% and 10.7% respectively over the previous year.
Urban and rural development has been continuously optimized. The new type of urbanization has been solidly promoted. At the end of 2021, the urbanization rate of the permanent population was 64.72%, an increase of 0.83 percentage points over the end of the previous year. The strategy of rural revitalization has been implemented in depth, the income of rural residents continues to be faster than that of urban residents, and the relative income gap between urban and rural residents has narrowed. In 2021, the actual growth rate of per capita disposable income of rural residents is 2.6 percentage points faster than that of urban residents; the ratio of per capita disposable income of urban and rural residents is 2.50, which is 0.06 smaller than that of the previous year.
Coordinated regional development has taken on a new look. Comprehensively promote the coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta, the ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin, and other major regional strategies, and solidly promote the coordinated development strategies of the western region, the revitalization of the northeast, the rise of the central region, and the development of the eastern region, and the coordination of regional development in the mainland has been steadily improved. In 2021, the per capita disposable income of residents in the western and central regions increased by 9.4% and 9.2% respectively over the previous year, 0.3 and 0.1 percentage points faster than that of the eastern regions, respectively.
Fourth, the green and low-carbon transformation has been accelerated, and the ecological environment has been continuously optimized
In line with the people's yearning and expectations for green waters and green mountains, all regions and departments have deeply implemented Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization, continued to promote green and low-carbon transformation, consolidated and expanded the achievements in the battle against pollution, and made overall plans for carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, continuously improving the quality of the ecological environment, and making the background of green development more beautiful.
Solid progress in energy conservation and emission reduction。 In 2021, the energy consumption of the national GDP of 10,000 yuan decreased by 2.7% compared with the previous year, the comprehensive energy consumption per unit of calcium carbide of key energy-consuming industrial enterprises fell by 5.3%, and the carbon dioxide emissions of the 10,000 yuan GDP fell by 3.8%. The proportion of clean energy consumption has increased. In 2021, the consumption of clean energy such as natural gas, hydropower, nuclear power, wind power, and solar power generation accounted for 25.5% of total energy consumption, an increase of 1.2 percentage points over the previous year. Pollutant emissions have declined. In 2021, the total emission reduction targets of major pollutants such as nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, chemical oxygen demand, and ammonia nitrogen have successfully completed the annual target.
Environmental quality continues to improve. Air quality continues to improve. In 2021, the proportion of days with excellent air quality in 339 cities at the prefecture level and above was 87.5%, an increase of 0.5 percentage points over the previous year; 64.3% of cities with annual air quality standards; and the average annual concentration of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) was 30 micrograms per cubic meter, down 9.1% from the previous year. The quality of the water environment continues to improve. Among the 3641 national surface water assessment sections, the proportion of sections with excellent water quality (class I.-III.) was 84.9%, an increase of 1.5 percentage points over the previous year.
The ecological safety barrier is gradually reinforced. By the end of 2021, a total of 474 national nature reserves and 5 national parks have been established nationwide. "Returning green to green" has achieved new results. In 2021, the afforestation area will be completed nationwide, of which 1.34 million hectares will be artificially afforested, and the area of grass improvement will be 3.07 million hectares, an increase of 240,000 hectares over the previous year. The new area of soil erosion control is 62,000 square kilometers.
V. Promote high-level opening up in depth and in depth, and strengthen foreign economic and trade cooperation
Under the impact of the century-old changes and the impact of the century epidemic, global economic and trade cooperation has encountered adverse currents, and the mainland has resisted the pressure, unswervingly expanded its opening up, continued to expand the scope, field and level of opening up, committed to maintaining the stability of the global industrial chain supply chain, promoting the joint construction of the "Belt and Road", and injecting new impetus into the development of global cooperation.
The volume of foreign trade increased in quality. The scale of trade in goods has reached a new level. In 2021, the total import and export of goods was 39.1 trillion yuan, an increase of 21.4% over the previous year, and the conversion rate according to the average annual exchange rate has exceeded 6 trillion US dollars, ranking first in global trade in goods for five consecutive years. The trade structure is constantly improving. In 2021, the proportion of general trade imports and exports was 61.6%, an increase of 1.6 percentage points over the previous year; the export volume of mechanical and electrical products increased by 20.4% over the previous year. Trade in services has grown rapidly. In 2021, the import and export volume of services increased by 16.1% over the previous year, of which the export volume of knowledge-intensive services increased by 18.0%. New trade formats are booming. In 2021, the export volume of cross-border e-commerce and market procurement increased by 24.5% and 32.1% respectively over the previous year.
Remarkable achievements have been made in the use of foreign capital. The negative list of foreign investment access continues to shrink, the level of investment facilitation has improved, and the complete industrial chain supply chain, broad market opportunities and optimized business environment have made China continue to become a hot spot for the introduction of foreign investment. In 2021, the actual use of foreign direct investment by the mainland will be 1.1 trillion yuan, an increase of 14.9% over the previous year, exceeding 1 trillion yuan for the first time; of which the actual use of foreign capital in the service industry and high-tech industries will increase by 16.7% and 17.1% respectively, and the structure of foreign capital utilization will continue to improve.
Jointly build the "Belt and Road" to go deeper and more concrete. In 2021, the mainland's import and export volume to countries along the "Belt and Road" was 11.6 trillion yuan, an increase of 23.6% over the previous year, the amount of non-financial direct investment in countries along the "Belt and Road" was 20.3 billion US dollars, an increase of 14.1%; the number of China-Europe express trains exceeded 15,000, an increase of 22.0%. As of January 2022, the mainland has signed more than 200 cooperation documents with 147 countries and 32 international organizations to jointly build the "Belt and Road".
The construction of the free trade zone is expanded and the efficiency is improved. The construction of institutional open highlands has achieved results. In 2021, the import and export volume of the comprehensive bonded zone, the free trade pilot zone and the Hainan free trade port increased by 24.3%, 26.4% and 57.7% respectively over the previous year. The import and export volume of the mainland's free trade partners that have entered into force with the agreement increased by 23.6%, which is 2.2 percentage points higher than the overall growth rate of foreign trade. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) has officially entered into force, bringing new opportunities for high-level open development.
Sixth, the people's livelihood guarantee is strong and effective, and the people's living standards are constantly improving
Focusing on the most direct and realistic interests of the people, party committees and governments at all levels adhere to the people-centered development thinking, do everything possible to increase residents' income, comprehensively strengthen social construction, improve the social security network, and build a real sense of gain, happiness and security for the people.
Residents' income is basically synchronized with economic growth. In 2021, the per capita disposable income of residents nationwide will be 35,128 yuan, an increase of 8.1% over the previous year, faster than the per capita GDP growth rate and synchronized with the GDP growth rate. The income of residents in poverty-alleviated counties has grown rapidly. In 2021, the per capita disposable income of rural residents in poverty-alleviated counties will be 14,051 yuan, an increase of 11.6% over the previous year, and an actual increase of 10.8%, which is faster than the growth rate of per capita disposable income of rural residents nationwide.
Education, culture and sports flourished. Educational development continues to improve. In 2021, the consolidation rate of nine-year compulsory education and the gross enrollment rate at the senior high school stage will increase by 0.2 percentage points over the previous year. Cultural services are constantly improving. In 2021, the number of public libraries, museums and cultural centers in the mainland reached 3217, 3671 and 3317 respectively; the operating income of cultural and related industry enterprises above designated size in the country increased by 16.0% over the previous year. The fitness conditions of the whole people continue to improve. At the end of 2021, there were 3.971 million sports venues nationwide, an increase of 258,000 over the end of the previous year; the per capita sports area reached 2.41 square meters. Athletic performance is impressive. In 2021, mainland athletes won 67 world championships in 16 sports, setting a total of 12 world records.
Healthy China is steadily advancing. Health power continues to strengthen. At the end of 2021, there were 1.031 million, 9.57 million beds and 11.23 million beds in medical and health institutions and 11.23 million people nationwide, respectively, an increase of 0.8 million, 470,000 and 550,000 people over the end of the previous year. Since the outbreak of the new coronavirus for more than two years, the mainland's vaccination work has been carried out in an orderly manner, the nucleic acid testing capacity has been greatly improved, and a strong line of defense for life safety has been established. By the end of 2021, a total of 2.84 billion doses of the novel coronavirus vaccine have been reported nationwide, and the total testing capacity of the nucleic acid of the new coronavirus has reached 41.68 million doses per day.
The social security network is tightly woven. By the end of 2021, the national basic endowment insurance will cover more than 1 billion people, and the basic medical insurance will cover more than 1.3 billion people. Among them, the number of urban workers' basic old-age insurance, urban and rural residents' basic old-age insurance, and basic medical insurance was 480.75 million, 547.97 million, and 136424 million, respectively, an increase of 24.54 million, 5.54 million, and 2.93 million over the end of the previous year. The construction of housing security and supply systems has been steadily advancing. In 2021, 1.65 million units of various shantytowns will be renovated nationwide, and 2.05 million units will be basically completed; and 940,000 units of affordable rental housing will be started and raised.
Seventh, the economic cycle has gradually improved, and safe development has been strengthened
The world economy is recovering in difficulty, the global production and supply cycle is not smooth, and the restrictions on the stable operation of the mainland economy have increased. Under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee, all regions and departments have actively promoted the construction of a new development pattern, smoothed the economic cycle, coordinated development and security, and effectively guaranteed the stability of the overall economic and social situation.
Production and circulation have steadily recovered. The growth of industrial production has expanded. In 2021, among the 41 major industries above designated size, 39 industries achieved growth in added value, with an increase of 95.1%; among the 612 industrial products in statistics, 450 products achieved growth, with an increase of 73.5%. Cargo traffic is generally active. In 2021, the total volume of cargo transportation and the turnover of cargo transportation increased by 12.3% and 13.7% respectively over the previous year; the throughput of port cargo increased by 6.8%; the total amount of completed postal industry business increased by 25.1%, and the volume of express delivery business increased by 29.9%.
Overall improvement in allocated consumption. The revenue of enterprises, residents and governments continued to grow. In 2021, the total profits of industrial enterprises and service enterprises above designated size increased by 34.3% and 13.4% respectively over the previous year; the per capita wage income of residents nationwide increased by 9.6% over the previous year, and the net income from per capita operation increased by 11.0%; and the national general public budget revenue increased by 10.7% over the previous year. Consumption is growing again. In 2021, the per capita consumption expenditure of residents nationwide increased by 13.6% over the previous year, and the actual increase after deducting price factors was 12.6%; among the 18 commodity categories above designated size, the retail sales of 14 categories of goods achieved double-digit growth.
Security developments continue to be consolidated. Grain production has been bumper again. In 2021, the total grain output was 1,365.7 billion catties, an increase of 26.7 billion catties over the previous year, an increase of 2.0%, and a record high. The intensity of energy supply assurance has been continuously increased, and the overall use of energy for daily life and production has been guaranteed。 According to preliminary calculations, in 2021, the total primary energy production reached 4.33 billion tons of standard coal, an increase of 6.2% over the previous year; the power generation capacity was 8534.25 billion kWh, an increase of 9.7%. Financial operations are generally stable. At the end of 2021, the stock of social financing in the mainland was 314.1 trillion yuan, an increase of 10.3% over the end of the previous year; of which the balance of RMB loans issued to the real economy increased by 11.6%. In 2021, the A-shares of the Shanghai and Shenzhen Exchanges raised a total of 1,674.3 billion yuan, an increase of 132.6 billion yuan over the previous year.
In 2021, the mainland successfully overcame multiple challenges such as the epidemic and flood situation, forged ahead in the face of adversity, steadily improved its economic strength, social productivity and comprehensive national strength, deepened reform, opening up and innovation, and continuously improved people's livelihood and well-being, achieving a good start in the "14th Five-Year Plan". These achievements are the result of the strong leadership of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core, and the result of the hard work and hard work of the people of all ethnic groups in the country. 2022 is the year of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and it is also an important year for promoting the development of the 14th Five-Year Plan. Although the impact of the global epidemic is still continuing, the international environment is becoming more complex and severe and uncertain, and domestic development is facing the triple pressure of demand contraction, supply shock and expected weakening, the fundamentals of the mainland's long-term economic development have not changed, the characteristics of good economic development resilience, sufficient potential and large space have not changed, the situation of economic stability recovery and transformation and upgrading has not changed, and the favorable conditions for building a new development pattern and promoting high-quality development have not changed. We must closely unite around the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core, take Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as the guide, fully implement the spirit of the 19th National Congress of the Party and the 19th Plenary Sessions of the Party, and the Central Economic Work Conference, adhere to the general tone of the work of seeking progress in a stable manner, coordinate epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development, coordinate development and security, actively introduce policies conducive to economic stability, increase policy support, and appropriately lead the policy force, and implement the new development concept in a complete, accurate and comprehensive manner. Accelerate the construction of a new development pattern, comprehensively deepen reform and opening up, promote high-quality development, continue to ensure and improve people's livelihood, maintain the stability of the overall social situation, and greet the victory of the 20th National Congress of the Party with practical actions.
Source: Statistical WeChat