Multiple Chinese regions achieve trillion-yuan GDP in 2024; to continue driving natl economic growth

As China's economy grew by 5 percent year-on-year to 134.9 trillion yuan ($18.77 trillion) in 2024, topping 130 trillion yuan for the first time, leading provinces achieved advancements in their respective GDP.

South China's Guangdong Province achieved an economic output of more than 14.16 trillion yuan in 2024, the Guangzhou Daily reported, citing data from the Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Statistics on Saturday.

East China's Zhejiang Province crossed the 9 trillion yuan threshold for the first time, achieving a GDP of 9.01 trillion yuan. In the 6 trillion-yuan category, besides Southwest China's Sichuan Province, Central China's Henan and Hubei Province also joined the category as new members. Meanwhile, Shanghai and East China's Anhui Province each exceeded the 5 trillion-yuan threshold last year, according to China News Service.

Li Changan, a professor at the Academy of China Open Economy Studies at the University of International Business and Economics, emphasized the pivotal role of major economic provinces in driving China's overall economic growth. He pointed out that these provinces account for a significant proportion of the national economy, and their accelerated growth provides decisive momentum for the country's economic expansion.

The Central Economic Work Conference held last December urged enhancing the innovation capabilities and leading role of areas with economic development advantages, supporting major economically developed provinces to play major roles, and encouraging other regions to leverage their local conditions and advantages.

The economically developed provinces are well-positioned in core areas such as domestic demand, foreign trade, and advancing new quality productive forces. With strong foundations, they can achieve faster growth, drive breakthroughs in key industries, address weaknesses more effectively, and lead the coordinated development of less developed regions, Li said.

For 2025, most economically developed provinces in China have set their GDP growth targets between 5 percent and 5.5 percent, and they will continue to play major roles in driving economic growth, people.com.cn reported.

Guangdong aims for approximately 5 percent, while Jiangsu and Shandong are targeting rates above 5 percent. Zhejiang and Henan are aiming for around 5.5 percent, and Sichuan is targeting a rate exceeding 5.5 percent.

"Most regions have set their economic growth targets above 5 percent, which is a positive sign. Based on the development goals outlined by these provinces, boosting domestic demand and advancing new quality productive forces are two key priorities for 2025," Li said.

In terms of boosting consumption, Guangdong plans to enhance and expand the implementation of large-scale equipment renewals and trade-ins of consumer goods and launch special actions to stimulate nighttime cultural and tourism consumption.

Meanwhile, Henan aims to cultivate 10 provincial-level brand consumption hubs and strive to create 10 leading counties in national county-level commerce.

To improve investment efficiency, Guangdong plans to arrange 1,500 key construction projects and Zhejiang aims for more than 1,000 major projects. Sichuan has proposed to solidify support to expand effective investment and accelerate the construction of major infrastructure projects.

For science and innovation, Guangdong has emphasized deepening the application of robotics technology in key areas and developing the low-altitude economy platform. Jiangsu is focused on building a high-quality education system, accelerating the development of a strong technological province, and strengthening the talent pool as a critical support. Shandong aims to develop new quality productive forces tailored to local conditions, enhance technological innovation, promote new industrialization, and advance modern service industries.