National Bureau of Statistics: Final consumption expenditure to contribute over 50% to economic growth in 2025
On January 19, Kang Yi, Director of the National Bureau of Statistics, stated at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office that since the beginning of the year, production price expectations have all shown positive changes, and the steady and progressive trend of the economy is continuing.
In December 2025, both the value added of service industries above designated size and the service production index saw a faster year-on-year growth compared to the previous month; the core CPI increase has stayed above 1% for four consecutive months, the year-on-year decline in PPI has narrowed, and has rebounded for three consecutive months month-on-month; both the manufacturing PMI and non-manufacturing business activity index have returned to the expansion range.
In terms of policy support, the State Council has deployed the implementation of a fiscal-financial coordination package of policies. Domestic demand expansion and "Two New" policies are also being continuously optimized; all these have created favorable conditions for the start of the economy this year.
Looking at the whole year of 2026, the supportive conditions and basic trends for China's economy to maintain long-term growth have not changed, nor has the overall direction of high-quality development. There is a foundation and conditions to maintain stable and positive economic performance.
At the press conference, Kang Yi introduced that in 2025, final consumption expenditures contributed more than half to economic growth.
Kang Yi also introduced that in 2025, China’s R&D spending intensity reached 2.8%, an increase of 0.11 percentage points from the previous year, surpassing the OECD average for the first time, while China’s innovation index ranking entered the global top ten for the first time.
On January 19, the National Bureau of Statistics announced the data, showing that the annual GDP in 2025 was 1401879 billion yuan, an increase of 5.0% over the previous year at constant prices. By quarter, GDP grew by 5.4% year-on-year in Q1, 5.2% in Q2, 4.8% in Q3, and 4.5% in Q4.
The full text of the National Bureau of Statistics press conference is as follows:
Director of the News Bureau and Spokesperson for the State Council Information Office, Shou Xiaoli:
Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Welcome to the press conference of the State Council Information Office. Today we are holding our routine economic data release, and we have invited Mr. Kang Yi, Director of the National Bureau of Statistics, and Mr. Fu Linghui, Spokesperson of the National Bureau of Statistics, Chief Economist, and Director-General of the Department of Comprehensive National Economic Statistics, to introduce the 2025 performance of China’s national economy and answer your questions.
First, let's have Mr. Kang Yi give an introduction.
Kang Yi, Director of the National Bureau of Statistics:
Dear media friends, good morning! I am very happy to attend the press conference of the State Council Information Office, and thank you friends from the media for your long-term strong support for statistical work. Today, it’s time again to release the annual economic data. Everyone is concerned about the progress of our economy and society over the past year. Next, I will first brief you on the relevant economic data of 2025, and then answer your questions.
Economic development in 2025 has tended towards being new and high-quality, and expected targets have been fully achieved.
In 2025, facing complex changes in the domestic and international economic environment, all regions and departments deeply implemented the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, unswervingly carried out the new development philosophy, promoted high-quality development, coordinated the overall domestic and international situation, balanced development and security, implemented more proactive and effective macro policies, advanced the construction of a unified national market, the national economy withstood pressure, forged ahead, and achieved new results in high-quality development. The main goals and tasks of economic and social development were fully achieved, marking a victorious conclusion to the 14th Five-Year Plan.
Preliminary calculations show that annual GDP was 1401879 billion yuan, an increase of 5.0% over the previous year at constant prices. By industry, value added in the primary industry was 93347 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.9%; secondary industry value added was 499653 billion yuan, up 4.5%; tertiary industry value added was 808879 billion yuan, up 5.4%. By quarter, GDP grew by 5.4% year-on-year in Q1, 5.2% in Q2, 4.8% in Q3, and 4.5% in Q4. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, Q4 GDP grew by 1.2%.
Kang Yi:
1. Increased grain output and harvests, stable growth in animal husbandry
The total national grain output for the year was 714.88 million tons, an increase of 8.38 million tons, up 1.2% year-on-year. Of this, summer grain output was 149.75 million tons (down 0.1%), early rice output was 28.51 million tons (up 1.2%), and autumn grain output was 536.62 million tons (up 1.5%). By variety, wheat output was 140.07 million tons (basically flat), corn output was 301.24 million tons (up 2.1%), rice output was 209.04 million tons (up 0.7%), and soybean output was 20.91 million tons (up 1.3%). Total output of pork, beef, mutton, and poultry meat was 100.72 million tons, up 4.2% and for the first time exceeded 100 million tons. Of this, pork output was 59.38 million tons (up 4.1%), beef 8.01 million tons (up 2.8%), mutton 4.96 million tons (down 4.2%), and poultry 28.37 million tons (up 6.7%). Milk output was 40.91 million tons (up 0.3%), and egg output was 34.98 million tons (down 2.5%). Yearly hog slaughter was 71.973 million head, up 2.4%; year-end hog inventory was 42.967 million head, up 0.5%.
2. Rapid industrial growth; good momentum in equipment and high-tech manufacturing
National industrial value added above designated size grew 5.9% year-on-year. By sector, mining rose 5.6%, manufacturing 6.4%, electricity, heat, gas, and water production and supply up 2.3%. Equipment manufacturing grew 9.2%, high-tech manufacturing grew 9.4%, outpacing overall industries by 3.3 and 3.5 percentage points, respectively. By ownership, value added for state holding enterprises grew 4.6%, shareholding companies 6.3%, foreign and Hong Kong/Macau/Taiwan invested companies 3.9%, and private companies 5.3%. By product, output of 3D printers, industrial robots, and new energy vehicles increased by 52.5%, 28.0% and 25.1%, respectively. In December, industrial value added above designated size increased by 5.2% year-on-year and 0.49% month-on-month. The December manufacturing PMI was 50.1%, up 0.9 percentage points from last month; the index of business activity expectations for enterprises was 55.5%, up 2.4 points. From January to November, total profits of industrial enterprises above designated size nationwide reached 6626.9 billion yuan, up 0.1% year-on-year.
Kang Yi:
3. Stable growth in services; robust development in modern services
Value added of the service sector grew by 5.4% year-on-year. Information transmission, software and IT services, leasing and business services, transport/warehousing/postal services, wholesale and retail, accommodation and catering grew by 11.1%, 10.3%, 5.2%, 5.0%, and 4.9%, respectively. In December, the service production index grew by 5.0% year-on-year. Information transmission/software/IT services, leasing/business services, and finance production indexes grew by 14.8%, 11.3%, and 6.5%, respectively. From January to November, business revenues of service enterprises above designated size grew by 7.8%. In December, the service business activity index was 49.7%, up 0.2 percentage points, and business activity expectations index was 56.4%, up 0.5 points. Telecom/broadcasting/TV/satellite transmission, monetary and financial services, capital market services had business activity indexes above 60%, in the high boom range.
4. Market sales scale expanding; faster growth in service retail
Total retail sales of consumer goods for the year was 50.1202 trillion yuan, up 3.7% year-on-year. By location, urban retail sales were 43.2972 trillion yuan (up 3.6%), rural retail sales were 6.8230 trillion (up 4.1%). By type, commodity sales were 44.3220 trillion yuan (up 3.8%), catering revenue was 5.7982 trillion (up 3.2%). Basic and upgrade-type goods sales performed well; retail sales of communication equipment, cultural office supplies, sports entertainment goods, home appliances/audio-visual, and grain/oil/food by units above designated size grew by 20.9%, 17.3%, 15.7%, 11.0%, and 9.3%, respectively. Online retail sales nationwide were 15.9722 trillion yuan, up 8.6%; of this, online sales of physical goods were 13.0923 trillion (up 5.2%), accounting for 26.1% of total retail sales of consumer goods. In December, total retail sales of consumer goods grew by 0.9% year-on-year, down 0.12% month-on-month. Retail sales in services grew 5.5% over the previous year, with rapid growth in cultural/leisure, communication/info, tourism consulting/leasing, and transportation services.
Kang Yi:
5. Fixed asset investment fell year-on-year; manufacturing investment maintained growth
National fixed-asset investment (excluding households) for the year was 48.5186 trillion yuan, down 3.8% year-on-year; excluding real estate development investment, total investment was down 0.5%. By areas, infrastructure investment fell 2.2%, manufacturing investment rose 0.6%, real estate development investment fell 17.2%. National commercial residential housing sales area was 881.01 million square meters, down 8.7%; commercial residential sales value was 8.3937 trillion yuan, down 12.6%. By industry, primary investment rose 2.3%, secondary 2.5%, tertiary fell 7.4%. Private investment fell 6.4%; excluding real estate, private investment fell 1.9%. Among high-tech sectors, investment in information services and aviation/aerospace manufacturing rose 28.4% and 16.9%, respectively. In December, fixed asset investment (excluding households) fell 1.13% month-on-month.
6. Stable growth in goods imports/exports; trade structure continued to optimize
Total goods imports and exports for the year were 45.4687 trillion yuan, up 3.8% year-on-year. Of this, exports were 26.9892 trillion yuan, up 6.1%; imports 18.4795 trillion yuan, up 0.5%. Imports/exports by private enterprises rose 7.1%, accounting for 57.3% of total imports/exports, up 1.8 percentage points. Imports/exports with Belt and Road Initiative countries grew 6.3%, accounting for 51.9% of total imports/exports. High-tech product exports were up 13.2%. In December, goods imports/exports totaled 4.263 trillion yuan, up 4.9% year-on-year; exports were 2.5359 trillion yuan (up 5.2%), imports 1.7271 trillion yuan (up 4.4%).
Kang Yi:
7. Overall stable consumer prices; moderate rebound in core CPI
Annual Consumer Price Index (CPI) was unchanged from the previous year. By category: food/tobacco/alcohol prices fell 0.7%, clothing rose 1.5%, housing rose 0.1%, household goods and services rose 0.9%, transport/communications fell 2.6%, education/culture/entertainment rose 0.8%, health care rose 0.8%, other goods/services rose 9.3%. In food/tobacco/alcohol, pork prices fell 6.1%, fresh vegetables fell 3.9%, grain fell 1.0%, fresh fruit rose 1.2%. Core CPI (excluding food and energy) rose 0.7%, up 0.2 percentage points from last year. In December, CPI rose 0.8% year-on-year, up 0.1 percentage points from last month; up 0.2% month-on-month. Annual producer price index (PPI) fell 2.6% year-on-year; down 1.9% year-on-year in December, up 0.2% month-on-month. Annual industrial producer purchase prices fell 3.0% year-on-year; in December fell 2.1% year-on-year, up 0.4% month-on-month.
8. Overall stable employment situation; urban survey unemployment rate steady
The average urban surveyed unemployment rate was 5.2% for the year. In December, the national urban unemployment rate was 5.1%. Unemployment rate for local registered workers was 5.3%; for migrant registered workers was 4.7%, of which migrant agricultural registered workers was 4.4%. In 31 major cities, the surveyed unemployment rate was 5.1%. Nationwide, average weekly working hours for employees was 48.6 hours. Total migrant workers nationwide was 301.15 million, up 1.42 million or 0.5%. Of this, local migrant workers were 121.09 million (up 0.1%), and external migrant workers were 180.06 million (up 0.8%).
Kang Yi:
9. Continued increase in resident income; rural income growth outpaced urban
Annual per capita disposable income for residents nationwide was 43,377 yuan, up 5.0% nominally and 5.0% in real terms. Per permanent residence, urban residents’ per capita disposable income was 56,502 yuan, up 4.3% nominally and 4.2% in real terms; rural residents’ per capita disposable income was 24,456 yuan, up 5.8% nominally and 6.0% in real terms. Median per capita disposable income nationwide was 36,231 yuan, up 4.4% nominally. Divided by national resident quintiles: low-income group was 10,150 yuan, lower-middle was 22,702 yuan, middle-income was 35,536 yuan, upper-middle was 55,586 yuan, and high-income group was 103,778 yuan. Annual per capita consumption expenditure of residents was 29,476 yuan, up 4.4% nominally and 4.4% in real terms. Engel's coefficient (share of per capita food/tobacco/alcohol expenditure in total per capita consumption) was 29.3%, down 0.5 percentage points from last year; per capita service consumption spending grew 4.5%, accounting for 46.1% of total per capita consumption, unchanged from last year.
10. Population decreased somewhat; urbanization rate continues to rise
By year end, the total national population (including the populations of 31 provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities and active-duty military, excluding Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and foreigners living in the 31 provinces/autonomous regions/municipalities) was 1,404.89 million, down 3.39 million from the previous year. Annual births were 7.92 million, with a birth rate of 5.63‰; deaths were 11.31 million, with a death rate of 8.04‰; natural population growth rate was -2.41‰. By gender, the male population was 716.85 million, female was 688.04 million, sex ratio was 104.19 (female = 100). By age, population aged 16–59 was 851.36 million, accounting for 60.6% of the total; age 60 and above was 323.38 million, or 23.0%, of which age 65 and above was 223.65 million, or 15.9%. By urban/rural, urban permanent population was 953.80 million, up 10.30 million from previous year-end; rural permanent population was 451.09 million, down 13.69 million. Urban population accounted for 67.89% of the total (urbanization rate), up 0.89 percentage points. By education, the average years of schooling for the 16–59 age group was 11.3 years, up 0.1 years.
Kang Yi:
Overall, in 2025 the national economy withstood various pressures and maintained steady and progressive development, with new achievements in high-quality development. However, it should be noted that the impact of changes in the external environment has deepened, domestic supply-demand imbalances remain prominent, and old problems as well as new challenges in economic development are still significant. In the next stage, we must fully implement the spirit of the Party’s 20th National Congress and related plenums as well as the requirements of the Central Economic Work Conference, adhere to pursuing progress while maintaining stability and improving quality and efficiency, implement more proactive and effective macro policies, continue to expand domestic demand and optimize supply, improve and activate incremental and existing assets, develop new quality productivity according to local conditions, deeply advance the construction of a unified national market, promote effective qualitative improvement and reasonable quantitative growth of the economy, and ensure a good start to the 15th Five-Year Plan period.
I will stop my introduction here.
Shou Xiaoli:
Thank you, Director Kang, for your introduction. Now we will start the Q&A; please state your news organization before asking your question.
CaiXin reporter:
2025 is the final year of the “14th Five-Year Plan.” How do you evaluate China’s economic performance this year? Thank you.
Kang Yi:
Thank you for your question. 2025 is the final year of the “14th Five-Year Plan” and a year of great significance in China’s path to modernization. It has been an extraordinary year, with encouraging achievements. The economy moved forward under pressure, developed towards new and higher quality, met all major expected targets, marked victorious completion of the 14th Five-Year Plan, and started off well towards the Second Centenary Goal. For the economic performance last year, I would like to briefly summarize it with four words: “steady, progressive, innovative, resilient.”
First, “steady” has been consolidated. In 2025, stability was a defining feature of China’s economy. Facing rapidly changing external conditions and increasing domestic challenges, China implemented more proactive and effective macro policies, not only effectively mitigating adverse impacts of the external environment, but also maintained fundamental stability amidst turbulence and consolidated the foundation of development. In 2025, GDP surpassed 140 trillion yuan for the first time, up 5.0% from the previous year; the average urban surveyed unemployment rate was 5.2%, employment stayed basically stable; goods trade reached new highs, and foreign exchange reserves exceeded $3.3 trillion. For a super-large economy like ours, achieving such stable development amid intertwined risks and challenges is not easy.
Continuously updating.
Risk warning and disclaimerThe market has risks and investment must be cautious. This article does not constitute personal investment advice and has not taken into account the special investment objectives, financial situation or needs of individual users. Users should consider whether any opinions, views or conclusions in this article are appropriate to their specific circumstances. Investment based on this is at your own risk.
