FACTS ON POLICY: China's Economy II: Per Capita GDP

June 19, 2007

China's per capita GDP has more than doubled since 2000.

China’s economy, one of the largest in the world, has grown at double-digit rates for the past seventeen years. This has led to a more than doubling of gross domestic product (GDP) and a doubling of per capita GDP since 2000.

Yet, despite this rapid growth rate, at $7,600 per capita, China’s per capita GDP ranks 107th in the world.

Income disparities between the rural and urban areas also remain high. More than half of the population—57 percent—live in rural areas. The per capita income of urban residents is more than three times higher than that of rural residents.

Overall, however, the robust growth of the aggregate economy has meant positive gains, even as income disparities have increased. While 33 percent of the population lived on less than $1 a day in 1990, that number dropped to less than 10 percent by 2004, the last year for which data are available.

Figure 1
Breakdown of GDP by sector for the world's five largest economies (in percent)

Sources:

• Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook.

• Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Part Three—Economic Indicators for OECD Non-Member Countries (May 2007).

• China Internet Information Center.

• World Bank, World Development Indicators, 2007 (April 2007).

Related Links and Material:

• Economist.com, “Poverty—Improving Slowly” (April 2007).

Quiz Source Information:

• same as fact.