BEIJING: Four decades after China’s late paramount leader Deng Xiaopingmasterminded the “reform and opening up” policy, the Asian giant has becomean economic superpower, behind only the United States.Here we break down the transformation in numbers.
The factor by which the size of China’s economy multiplied between 1980 and2017, expanding from $305 billion to $12.7 trillion.
The number of dollar billionaires in China — the most in the world,according to Shanghai-based publisher Hurun Report. Alibaba founder Jack Matops the list, with his wealth at a whopping $39 billion.
China’s rank as the world’s biggest exporter, its economic engine. Goodsand services were worth $2.49 trillion in 2017, well ahead of the UnitedStates in second place. The value of Chinese exports was just $21 billionin 1980.
The average percentage growth rate in China’s economy between 1980 and2016. The value, in billions of dollars, of foreign investment into Chinain 2017, up from virtually nothing in 1980.
Chinese investment abroad, in billions of dollars, in 2016. The factor bywhich Chinese household consumption grew between 1980 and 2016, explodingfrom $49 billion to $4.4 trillion.
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The percentage of national wealth held by the richest one percent in 2015,up from 6.4 percent in 1980, as China becomes increasingly unequal. Now,the poorest half of the population hold just 14.8 percent of the country’swealth, compared with 26.7 percent in 1980.
The factor by which CO2 emissions multiplied between 1980 and 2014, as thecountry’s phenomenal growth comes at a heavy environmental cost.
The population, in billions, of China in 2017, up from 963 millioninhabitants in 1978 and making it the world’s most populous country.Beijing imposed the one-child policy in 1979 in a bid to slow populationgrowth, but it was finally abandoned in 2015 due to an ageing population.
Average Chinese life expectancy in 2016, up from 66 in 1979. Percentage ofthe Chinese population who were illiterate in 2010, compared with 22percent in 1982. – APP/AFP
