GDP distribution across economic sectors in China 2014-2024
According to preliminary data, the agricultural sector contributed around 6.8 percent to the gross domestic product (GDP) of China in 2024, whereas 36.5 percent of the economic value added originated from the industrial sector and 54.6 percent from the service sector, respectively. The total GDP of China at current prices amounted to approximately 134.91 trillion yuan in 2024.
Economic development in China
The gross domestic product (GDP) serves as a primary indicator to measure the economic performance of a country or a region. It is generally defined as the monetary value of all finished goods and services produced within a country in a specific period of time. It includes all of private and public spending, government spending, investments, and net exports which are calculated as total exports minus imports. In other words, GDP represents the size of the economy.
With its national economy growing at an exceptional annual growth rate of above nine percent for three decades in succession, China had become the worlds’ second largest economy by 2010, surpassing all other economies but the United States. Even though China's GDP growth has cooled down in recent years, its economy still expanded at roughly two times the pace of the United States in 2024.
Breakdown of GDP in China
When compared to other developed countries, the proportions of agriculture and industry in China's GDP are significantly higher. Even though agriculture is a major industry in the United States, it only accounted for about one percent of the economy in 2023. While the service sector contributed to more than 70 percent of the economy in most developed countries, it's share was considerably lower in China. This was not only due to China's lower development level, but also to the country’s focus on manufacturing and export. However, as the future limitations of this growth model become more and more apparent, China is trying to shift it's economic focus to the high-tech and service sectors. Accordingly, growth rates of the service sector have been considerably higher than in industry and agriculture in the years before the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
