A staff member works on an automobile battery production line in Huzhou, Zhejiang province. [Photo by Tan Yunfeng/for China Daily]
On March 1, Wu Sheng, director of the Zhejiang Bureau of Statistics, shared 10 highlights of the province's socioeconomic development in 2021 based on the latest statistics.
First of all, Zhejiang's GDP rose to 7.3516 trillion yuan ($1.14 trillion) in 2021, achieving its seven-trillion-yuan GDP target one year earlier than initially planned in 2017. Currently, 18 nations have a GDP of over one trillion dollars, according to data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Second, the total operating revenue of the province's industrial enterprises reached 11.1253 trillion yuan in 2021, surpassing 10 trillion yuan for the first time in history. Above-designated-size companies (those with annual operating revenues of about 20 million yuan or more) and the 1,303 large companies earning more than one billion yuan in operating revenue accounted for 88.1 percent and 45.1 percent of the aforementioned aggregate, respectively.
Third, the value-added of the province's privately-owned companies was an estimated 4.92 trillion yuan in 2021, accounting for as much as 67 percent of the province's GDP.
Fourth, the value-added of the province's digital-economy sector stood at 834.8 billion yuan in 2021, up 13.3 percent from the year before and eclipsing the overall GDP growth rate of 8.5 percent.
Fifth, research and development expenditures in the province were valued at 213 billion yuan in 2021, exceeding 200 billion yuan for the first time in history.
Sixth, the province's foreign trade was valued at 4.14 trillion yuan in 2021, ranking third among provincial-level regions nationwide.
Seventh, the province's number of above-designated-sized industrial companies had surpassed 50,000 in number by the end of 2021.
Eighth, total fixed-asset investment in the province's manufacturing sectors surged 19.8 percent year on year in 2021.
Ninth, the value of Zhejiang residents' per capita online consumption stood at 18,900 yuan in 2021, making up 51.5 percent of total per capita expenditures throughout the year.
Lastly, Zhejiang residents' per capita disposable income stood at 57,541 yuan in 2021, the highest among all Chinese provinces.