China in a Decade: New Urbanization Strategy Enhances Quality of City Development

II. Greater economic strength of cities unleashing new vitality

1. Rapid growth of total economic volume resulted in greater financial strength of the government

In 2020, the regional GDP of cities above prefecture level amounted to 61.1713 trillion yuan (at current prices, the same below), compared with only 32.7382 billion yuan in 2012. The club of cities with a GDP larger than 1 trillion yuan has constantly expanded. In 2012, there were only 7 cities in the club, but in 2021, the number increased to 24.

2. Sci-tech innovation drives industrial upgrading and restructuring

In 2020, total spending in sci-tech research by cities above prefecture level amounted to RMB 384.8 billion, accounting for 4.1% of the public budget expenditure, compared with only RMB 141.8 billion in 2012, accounting for 3.2%; 3.42 million patents were granted, compared with only 1.13 million in 2012. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) data shows that China’s patent applications ranked first in the world for 11 consecutive years.

In 2020, the share of added value of tertiary industry in cities above prefecture level reached 60.5%. In 2021, the share of added value of high-tech manufacturing industry in the total added value of industrial enterprises above designated size hit 15.1%; up 5.7 percentage points compared with 2012.

3. Rapid increase of urban residents’ income helps boost the consumer market

The number of urban employed increased from 372.87 million in 2012 to 467.73 million in 2021. The per capita disposable income of urban residents increased from RMB 24,127 in 2012 to RMB 47,412 in 2021, with an average annual growth of 5.7% in real terms.

The per capita consumption of urban residents increased from 17,107 yuan in 2012 to 30,307 yuan in 2021, with an average annual real growth of 4.4%; the Engel coefficient of urban households was 28.6%, 3.4 percentage points lower than that in 2012.