China's economic, social progress in 2023: GDP expands 5.2 pct to 126.06 trillion

National Bureau of Statistics of China released the statistical communiqué on the 2023 national economic and social development on Feb. 29, 2024.

Here are the highlights:

-- GDP grew 5.2 percent year on year to hit 126.06 trillion yuan (about 17.75 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2023, while the per capita GDP rose 5.4 percent year on year to 89,358 yuan.

-- The tertiary industry accounted for 54.6 percent of GDP, while final consumption expenditure drove GDP growth by 4.3 percentage points.

-- A total of 12.44 million jobs were created in urban areas, up 380,000 from the previous year, and the surveyed urban unemployment rate stood at 5.2 percent.

-- New economic drivers thrived, with the output of new energy vehicles rising 30.3 percent year on year to 9.44 million, and the output of solar cells expanding by 54 percent from that in 2022.