Statistical Communiqué on the 2006 National Economic and Social Development

Table 11: Freight Traffic by All Means of Transportation and the Growth Rates in 2006

Table 12: Passenger Traffic by All Means of Transportation and the Growth Rates in 2006

The volume of freight handled by ports above the designated size throughout the country totaled 4.56 billion tons, up 15.6 percent over the previous year, of which, freight for foreign trade was 1.57 billion tons, up 16.8 percent. Container shipping handled 93.00 million standard containers, up by 23.0 percent.

The total number of motor vehicles for civilian use reached 49.85 million (including 13.99 million tri-wheel motor vehicles and low-speed trucks) by the end of 2006, up 15.2 percent, of which, private-owned vehicles numbered 29.25 million, up 23.7 percent. The total number of cars for civilian use stood at 15.45 million, up by 27.2 percent, of which, private-owned cars numbered 11.49 million, up by 33.5 percent.

The turnover of post and telecommunication services totaled 1,532.1 billion yuan, up 25.6 percent over the previous year. Of this total, post services accounted for 72.9 billion yuan, up 16.9 percent, and telecommunication services 1,459.2 billion yuan, up 26.1 percent. By the end of 2006, with 30.67 million newly installed lines of office switchboards, the total capacity reached 500 million lines. The year also saw 17.37 million new fixed telephone subscribers to bring the total number to 367.81 million by the end of the year. This included 251.39 million urban subscribers and 116.42 million rural subscribers. Mobile phone users numbered 461.08 million by the end of 2006, with 67.68 million new subscribers in the year. In total, the number of fixed and mobile phone users reached 828.89 million, an increase of 85.05 million as compared with at the end of 2005. On average, phone coverage is 63 sets per 100 Chinese populations.

Figure 7: Number of Phone Subscribers, 2002-2006

In 2006, the number of inbound visitors to China totaled 124.94 million, a year-on-year rise of 3.9 percent. Of this total, 22.21 million were foreigners, up 9.7 percent; and 102.73 million were Chinese compatriots from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, up 2.7 percent. Of all the inbound tourists, overnight visitors counted 49.91 million, up 6.6 percent. Foreign exchange earnings from international tourism topped 33.95 billion US dollars, up 15.9 percent. The number of China’s outbound visitors totaled 34.52 million, up 11.3 percent. Of this total, 28.80 million were on private visits, a year-on-year rise of 14.6 percent, or 83.4 percent of all outgoing visitors. The year 2006 saw 1.39 billion domestic tourists, up 15 percent. The revenue from domestic tourism totaled 623.0 billion yuan, up 17.9 percent.

VIII. Banking, Securities and Insurance

By the end of 2006, money supply of broad sense (M2) was 34.6 trillion yuan, reflecting a year-on-year increase of 16.9 percent. Money supply of narrow sense (M1) was 12.6 trillion yuan, up 17.5 percent. Cash in circulation (M0) was 2.7 trillion yuan, up 12.7 percent.  Savings deposit in Renminbi and foreign currencies in all items in financial institutions totaled 34.8 trillion yuan at the end of 2006, up 16.0 percent. Loans in Renminbi and foreign currencies in all items in financial institutions reached 23.9 trillion yuan, up 14.7 percent.

Table 13: Savings Deposit and Loans in RMB and Foreign Currencies in All Financial Institutions and the Growth Rates in 2006

 Figure 8: Urban and Rural Households’ Savings Deposit in RMB and Its Growth, 2002-2006

Loans in Renminbi from rural financial cooperation institutions (i.e. rural credit cooperatives, rural cooperation banks, and rural commercial banks) totaled 2.6 trillion yuan by the end of 2006, an increase of 427.7 billion yuan as compared with the end of 2005. The loans in Renminbi for consumption use from all financial institutions totaled 2.4 trillion yuan, an increase of 206.8 billion yuan. Of all consumption loans, those for individual housing totaled 1.99 trillion yuan, an increase of 143.9 billion yuan.

Funds rose in 2006 by enterprises through issuing stocks and share rights on stock market amounted to 559.4 billion yuan, an increase of 371.2 billion yuan over the previous year. Of this total, 128 companies issued A-shares (including newly issued and convertible loan stocks) and other 2 companies issued A-share rights, receiving 246.4 billion yuan worth of capital altogether, an increase of 212.6 billion yuan over 2005. The issue of 34 H-shares raised another 313.1 billion yuan worth of capital, an increase of 158.6 billion yuan. The number of listed companies (with A- or B-shares) on China’s stock market rose from 1,381 at the end of 2005 to 1,434 at the end of 2006, representing 8,940.4 billion yuan worth of market value, a growth of 175.7 percent over the previous year.

The total corporate bonds issued throughout the year reached 101.5 billion yuan, an increase of 36.1 billion yuan over 2005; and the short-term financing funds were 294.3 billion yuan, an increase of 155.1 billion yuan.

The premium received by the insurance companies totaled 564.1 billion yuan in 2006, up 14.4 percent over the previous year. Of this total, life insurance premium amounted to 359.3 billion yuan, health and casualty insurance premium 53.9 billion yuan, and property insurance premium 150.9 billion yuan.

Insurance companies paid an indemnity worth of 143.9 billion yuan, of which, life insurance indemnity was 46.5 billion yuan, health and casualty insurance indemnity 17.7 billion yuan, and property insurance indemnity 79.6 billion yuan.

IX. Education, Science and Technology

In 2006, the post-graduate education enrollment was 1.10 million students with 400 thousand new students and 260 thousand graduates. The general tertiary education enrollment was 17.39 million students with 5.40 million new students and 3.77 million graduates. Vocational secondary schools of various types had 18.09 million enrolled students, including 7.41 million new entrants, and 4.76 million graduates. Senior secondary schools had 25.15 million enrolled students, including 8.71 million new entrants, and 7.27 million graduates. Students enrolled in junior secondary schools totaled 59.58 million, including 19.30 million new entrants, and 20.72 million graduates. The country had a primary education enrollment of 107.12 million students, including 17.29 million new entrants, and 19.28 million graduates. There were 360 thousand students in special education schools, with 50 thousand new entrants. Kindergartens accommodated 22.64 million children.

Figure 9: New Entrants into Education, 2002-2006

The amount of expenditures on research and development activities (R&D) was worth 294.3 billion yuan in 2006, up 20.1 percent over 2005, accounting for 1.41 percent of GDP. Of this total, 14.8 billion yuan was appropriated for fundamental research programs. A total number of 1,409 projects under the National Key Technology Research and Development Program and 2,841 projects under the Hi-tech Research and Development Program (the 863 Program) were implemented. The year 2006 saw the establishment of 7 new national engineering research centers and 3 national engineering laboratories.

The number of state validated enterprise technical centers reached 438 by the end of the year. A total of 33 thousand scientific research outcomes at and above provincial or ministerial level were achieved. Some 573 thousand patent applications were accepted from home and abroad, of which 470 thousand were domestic applications, accounting for 82.1 percent of the total. A total number of 210 thousand patent applications for new inventions were accepted, of which 122 thousand were from domestic applicants or 58.1 percent of the total. A total of 268 thousand patents were authorized in 2006, of which 224 thousand were domestic patents, accounting for 83.5 percent of the total. A total of 58 thousand patents for new inventions were authorized, of which 25 thousand were domestic ones, accounting for 43.4 percent. A total of 206 thousand technology transfer contracts were signed, representing 181.8 billion yuan in value, up 20.4 percent over the previous year.

By the end of 2006, there were altogether 21,458 laboratories for product inspection, including 325 national inspection centers. There were 184 institutions for certification of product quality systems, which accumulatively certified products in 49 thousand enterprises. A total of 3,750 authorized measurement institutions enforced compulsory inspection on 37.30 million measurement instruments in the year. Some 1,950 national standards were developed or revised in the year, including 1,100 new standards. The country had 18,053 meteorology observatories, including 249 national climate observatories, 2,297 national weather observatories and 15,507 regional weather observation stations. There were 1,253 seismological monitor stations and 31 seismological remote monitor network stations. The number of oceanic observation and monitor spots reached 8,800. Mapping departments published 1,779 maps and 532 mapping books.

X. Culture, Public Health and Sports

At the end of 2006, there were 2,766 art-performing groups, 2,889 culture centers, 2,767 public libraries, 1,593 museums, 267 radio broadcasting stations, 296 television stations and 46 educational television stations throughout China. Subscribers to cable television programs numbered 138.62 million. A number of 209 cities provided digital cable television services covering 12.62 million subscribers. Radio broadcasting and television broadcasting coverage rates were 95.0 percent and 96.2 percent respectively. The country produced 330 feature movies and 62 science, educational, documentary and cartoon movies. A total of 41.6 billion copies of newspapers and 3.0 billion copies of magazines were issued, and 6.2 billion copies of books published. By the end of the year, there were 3,994 archives in China and 63.55 million documents were made accessible to the public. China promulgated its first list of 518 national intangible cultural heritages.

By the end of 2006, there were 300 thousand health institutions in China, including 59 thousand general hospitals and health centers, 3,006 maternal and child health-care institutions, 1,404 specialized health institutions, 3,587 epidemic disease prevention centers (stations) and 2,256 health monitoring institutions. There were 4,525 thousand health workers in China; including 1,970 thousand practicing doctors and assistant practicing doctors and 1,386 thousand registered nurses. General hospitals and health centers in China possessed 3,216 thousand beds. There were 40 thousand rural health care centers, possessing 680 thousand beds and employing 857 thousand health care workers. In 2006, some 3,489 thousand people were infected by A or B class infectious diseases, with 10,623 reported deaths. The incidence of infectious disease was 266.84 per 100 thousand, with the death rate standing at 0.81 per 100 thousand. A total of 1,451 counties/cities conducted experiments on new types of cooperative medical care system in rural areas, which accounted for 50.7 percent of the total, attracting 410 million farmers which represented a participation rate of 80.5 percent.

In 2006, Chinese athletes won 141 world championships on 24 sports events. Eleven athletes and 3 teams broke 21 world records on 25 occasions. In December 2006, Chinese athletes won 165 gold medals, 88 silver medals and 63 bronze medals in the 15th Asian Games at Doha. The number of gold medals and total number of medals won both exceeded those received in the 14th Asian Games and China ranked the first in gold medals for consecutive 7 years.

XI. Population, Living Conditions and Social Security

At the end of 2006, the total number of Chinese population reached 1,314.48 million, an increase of 6.92 million over the previous year. The year 2006 saw 15.84 million births, a crude birth rate of 12.09 per thousand, and 8.92 million deaths, or a crude death rate of 6.81 per thousand. The natural growth rate was 5.28 per thousand. The sex ratio at birth was 119.25.

Table 14: Composition of Population in 2006

In 2006, the annual per capita net income of rural households was 3,587 yuan, or a real increase of 7.4 percent. The annual per capita disposable income of urban households was 11,759 yuan, or a real increase of 10.4 percent. The Engel coefficient (which refers to the proportion of expenditure on food to the total expenditure of households) was 43 percent for rural households and 35.8 percent for urban households. The population in absolute poverty in rural areas with annual per capita net income below 693 yuan numbered 21.48 million at the end of 2006, a decline of 2.17 million over the previous year.

The low-income population in rural areas with annual per capita net income between 694 and 958 yuan numbered 35.50 million, a decline of 5.17 million.

Figure 10: Per Capita Disposable Income of Urban Households and Its Growth, 2002-2006

Figure 11: Per Capita Net Income of Rural Households and Its Growth, 2002-2006

At the end of 2006, 186.49 million people participated in basic pension programs, a year-on-year increase of 11.62 million. Of this total, 140.28 million were staff and workers, and 46.21 million were retirees. A total of 157.37 million people participated in urban basic health insurance programs, an increase of 19.54 million, of whom 115.87 million were staff and workers, 41.50 million were retirees. About 111.87 million people participated in unemployment insurance programs, an increase of 5,390 thousand. Some 102.35 million people participated in work accident insurance, an increase of 17.57 million, of which 25.38 million were migrant workers coming from the rural areas, an increase of 12.86 million. Some 64.46 million people participated in maternity insurance programs, an increase of 10.38 million.

The total income of various social security funds reached 851.7 billion yuan and the total expenditure stood at 658.3 billion yuan. The number of people receiving unemployment insurance payment stood at 3.27 million. Some 22.41 million urban residents received the government minimum living allowances, or 67 thousand more than the previous year. About 15.09 rural residents received the government minimum living allowance, an increase of 6.84 million.

Social welfare institutions of various types provided 1.75 million beds by the end of 2006, accommodating 1.36 million inmates. There were 120 thousand community service facilities in urban areas, including 9,817 comprehensive community service centers. Some 49.6 billion yuan worth of social welfare lottery tickets were sold, raising 17.4 billion yuan of social welfare funds. Another 3.5 billion yuan were received from direct donations.

XII. Resources, Environment and Work Safety

Some 167 thousand hectares of cultivated land was used for construction purpose in 2006. An area of 36 thousand hectares of cultivated land was destroyed by disasters, 339 thousand hectares of farmland was converted into land for ecological preservation and structural adjustment to agriculture led to a reduction of 40 thousand hectares of cultivated land. Non-reported farmland of 91 thousand hectares used for construction purposes in earlier years was revealed in 2006. Land reclamation and re-development programs added 367 thousand hectares of cultivated land. As a result, the year 2006 witnessed a net reduction of 306 thousand hectares of cultivated land.

The total stock of water resources in 2006 was 2,550.0 billion cubic meters, a year-on-year decline of 9.1 percent, or 1,945 cubic meters in per capita terms, down by 9.6 percent. The annual average precipitation was 604 millimeters, down by 6.2 percent. Large reservoirs in China stored 180.6 billion cubic meters of water at the end of 2006, or 24.5 billion cubic meters less than that at the end of 2005. Total water consumption went up by 0.7 percent to reach 567.0 billion cubic meters, of which, water consumption for living purposes rose by 0.7 percent, for industrial use up by 1.9 percent and for agricultural use up by 0.2 percent. Water consumption for every 10 thousand yuan worth of GDP produced was 279 cubic meters, a decline of 8.8 percent. Water consumption for every 10 thousand yuan worth of industrial value added was 151 cubic meters, down by 9.0 percent. Per capita water consumption was 432 cubic meters, maintaining the same level as in 2005. Some 35.78 million people and 29.36 million large domestic animals suffered temporary shortage of drinking water during the year.

National land surveys and geological explorations discovered a total of 213 new mineral deposits in large or medium size, including 42 energy mineral deposits, 85 metallic mineral deposits, 85 non-metallic mineral deposits and 1 aqueous and gaseous deposit. Increased reserves were found for 72 minerals, including 944 million tons of crude oil, 538.1 billion cubic meters of natural gas and 36.7 billion tons of coal.

A total of 4.57 million hectares of forest were planted, of which 2.52 million were afforested by manpower. Some 2.97 million hectares were afforested through key afforestation projects, accounting for 65 percent of the total planted area of the year. About 1.89 billion trees were planted in 2006 by volunteers. By the end of 2006, there were 233 national ecological demonstration zones approved and 2,395 natural reserves including 265 national ones and covering a total area of 151.54 million hectares, or 15 percent of the total land area of China. About 42 thousand square kilometers of eroded land were put under comprehensive treatment programs, and 62 thousand square kilometers of land were closed for nurture and protection in areas suffering water and soil erosion.

Preliminary estimation indicated that the total energy consumption in 2006 amounted to 2.46 billion tons of standard coal equivalent, up 9.3 percent over 2005. Of this total, the consumption of coal was 2.37 billion tons, up 9.6 percent; crude oil 320 million tons, up 7.1 percent; natural gas 55.6 billion cubic meters, up 19.9 percent; hydro-electric power 416.7 billion kilowatt hours, up 5.0 percent; and nuclear power 54.3 billion kilowatt hours, up 2.4 percent. The consumption of major kinds of raw materials included 450 million tons of rolled steel, up 17.2 percent; 3.72 million tons of copper, down by 4.0 percent; 8.65 million tons of aluminum, up 32.1 percent; 9.39 million tons of ethylene, up by 23.9 percent; and 1.20 billion tons of cement, up 14.5 percent. Energy consumption for producing 10 thousand yuan worth of GDP was 1.21 tons of standard coal equivalents, down by 1.23 percent over that in 2005.

Figure 12: Total Energy Consumption and Its Growth, 2002-2006

Monitoring of water quality on 408 sections of the 7 major water systems in China showed that 46 percent of the sections met the national quality standard of Grade III for surface water, 28 percent of the sections met the quality standard of Grade IV or V, and 26 percent were below Grade V. There was no significant change of the water quality in the 7 major water systems as compared with that in the previous year.

Monitoring of oceanic water quality at 288 offshore monitoring stations indicated that oceanic water met the national quality standard Grade I and II in 67.7 percent of the stations, up 0.4 percentage point from the previous year; water quality at 8.0 percent of the stations met Grade III standard, down by 0.9 percentage point; and water of Grade IV or inferior quality was found in 24.3 percent of the stations, up by 0.5 percentage point. A total of 149 thousand square kilometers of oceanic waters did not meet the quality standard for clean oceanic water, an increase of about 10 thousand square kilometers. Of this total, seriously polluted oceanic area occupied 29 thousand square kilometers.

In the 559 cities covered by air quality monitoring program, 349 cities reached or topped air quality standard Grade II, accounting for 62.4 percent of all cities under the program; 159 cities attained Grade III, accounting for 28.4 percent; and air quality in 51 cities was inferior to Grade III, accounting for 9.1 percent. Of the 378 cities subject to noise monitoring program, 5.0 percent enjoyed fairly good environment, 63.8 percent had good environment, 29.3 percent had light noise pollution, 1.6 percent experienced medium noise pollution and 0.3 percent of cities suffered serious noise pollution in downtown areas.

In 2006, the total emission of chemical oxygen demand (COD) of the whole country reached 14.31 million tons, up by 1.2 percent over the previous year; and that of the sulphur dioxide (SO2) was 25.94 million tons, up 1.8 percent.

At the end of 2006, the daily treatment capacity of municipal sewage reached 61.22 million cubic meters, up 6.9 percent. Municipal sewage treatment rate was 56 percent, up 4 percentage points. The floor space with central heating systems amounted to 2.65 billion square meters, up 5.1 percent. Greenery coverage reached 33.5 percent of the urban area, up 1 percentage point.

In 2006, natural disasters caused 252.8 billion yuan worth of direct economic loss, up 23.8 percent. Natural disasters hit 41.09 million hectares of crops, up 5.9 percent, of which 5.41 million hectares of crops was demolished, up 17.7 percent. 2006 witnessed 7,775 forest fires, which were 3,767 less than that in the previous year. There were five extra big forest fires in 2006, 2 less than that in the previous year. The fires hit 410 thousand hectares of forest, 4.5 times more than in 2005. Oceanic disasters caused a direct economic loss of 21.8 billion yuan, down by 34.3 percent. The occurrence of 93 red tides in the year, 11 tides more than in 2005, hit an accumulative area of 19,840 square kilometers, down by 26.7 percent. China registered 102.8 thousand geological disasters which left a death doll was 663 and made a total direct economic loss of 4.42 billion yuan. The country recorded 14 earthquakes with magnitude 5 and over on Richter scale, 10 of which caused disasters, hitting 667 thousand people in the Mainland and an area of 7,168 square kilometers, down by 68 percent and 52.3 percent respectively, and causing a direct economic loss of 800 million yuan, a decline of 69.6 percent.

The death toll due to work accidents amounted to 112,822 people, a year-on-year decrease of 11.2 percent. The death toll from work accidents every 100 million yuan worth of GDP was 0.56 person, a decline of 20.4 percent. Work accidents in industrial, mining and commercial enterprises caused 3.33 deaths out of every 100 thousand employees, down 13.5 percent. The death toll for producing one million tons of coal in coal mines was 2.04 persons, down 27.4 percent. The year 2006 witnessed 378,781 traffic accidents, claiming 89,455 lives, injuring 431 thousand people and causing a direct property loss of 1.49 billion yuan. The death toll per 10 thousand vehicles was 6.20 persons, down by 18.4 percent.

Notes:

1.        All figures in this Communiqué are preliminary statistics.

2.        Statistics in this Communiqué do not include Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR and Taiwan Province.

3.        Due to the rounding-off reasons, the subentries may not add up to the aggregate totals.

4.        Gross domestic product (GDP) and value added as quoted in this Communiqué are calculated at current prices, whereas their growth rates are at comparable prices.

5.        Output and consumption of rolled steel include duplicated counting of rolled steel as intermediate inputs used for producing other types of rolled steel.

6.        The national total of fixed assets investment is larger than the aggregate sum by adding up the subtotals of fixed assets investment in the eastern areas, central areas, western areas and northeastern areas due to the fact that some of the non-classified investments are not covered by regional figures.

7.        The investment in real estate includes the investment made in real estate development, construction of buildings for own use, property management, intermediary services and other real estate development.

8.        The consumption of water and energy for producing 10 thousand yuan worth of GDP is calculated at 2005 constant prices. The turnover of post and telecommunication services is calculated at constant prices of 2000.