With the per-capita GDP of Shandong, an eastern province in China, exceeding $10,000 in 2015, 10 of China’s 31 provincial-level regions are now listed in the club with a per-capita GDP of over $10,000, China Business News reported Wednesday.

The 10 members of the club now include Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Guangdong, Fujian, Liaoning, and Shandong provinces, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai.

The majority of them are located in coastal area. It is also the first time for Shandong to join the club.

Shandong's government work report shows that during 2011 to 2015, its provincial GDP has reached 6.3 trillion yuan with an average annual growth of 9.4 percent. The per capita GDP has increased to $10,000 from $6,000.

Among the 10 members, the figures of Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai are now even approaching the $20,000 mark.

A per capita GDP of $10,000 is considered a threshold. The Statistics Bureau of Guangdong province said last January that in 2013, 65 countries in the world realized a per-capita GDP of over $10,000. Guangdong province, if taken as an independent economic entity, could rank 65th worldwide in terms of per capita GDP, reaching the standard of moderately developed countries.

Ding Changfa, associate professor of economics at Xiamen University told China Business News that the same as many other developed countries, the economic growth of some provinces will slow down after decades of breakneck growth.

He believed that as the transformation of China’s growth pattern requires a long period, growth of local per-capita GDP will also slow down.

Ding also suggested the 10 provinces improve their social welfare and distribution of incomes, adding that those nations with per-capita GDP of over $10,000 have a better performance in these aspects.