Zhuhai has gotten off to a good start in the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25) according to the Statistical Communiqué of Zhuhai on 2021 National Economic and Social Development released on April 8 by the Statistics Bureau and local survey team of the National Bureau of Statistics. 

The city managed to coordinate COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control with economic and social development in 2021, achieving a 6.9 percent growth year-on-year in its GDP to 388.18 billion yuan ($60.97 billion).

Xiangzhou topped all districts citywide in GDP at 259.86 billion yuan ($40.79 billion), up 7.2 percent from the previous year, while Jinwan and Doumen districts had the second and third highest GDP respectively.

The city's primary, secondary, and tertiary industries each went up by 7.1, 6.5, and 7.2 percent last year to 5.5 billion yuan ($863.8 million), 162.75 billion yuan ($25.55 billion), and 219.93 billion yuan ($34.52 billion) respectively. In addition, the added value of modern services in the city was 155.15 billion yuan ($24.35 billion), with an annual growth rate of 7 percent, accounting for 40 percent of Zhuhai's GDP. 

The added value of industries above designated size in Zhuhai rose 8.8 percent, with the added value of its six pillar industries of electric power and energy, biomedicine, petrochemicals, home and electrical appliances, precision machinery manufacturing, as well as electronic information soared by 11.1 percent.

Vigorous Zhuhai with favorable ecological environment 

Meanwhile, the added value of Zhuhai's hi-tech manufacturing industry climbed up by 9 percent, while that of the equipment manufacturing industry increased by 6.5 percent, each accounting for 30.8 percent and 35.5 percent of the city's total added value of industries above designated size.

Of note, 90 out of the total 139 product categories by Zhuhai enterprises above designated size experienced growth, with the three fastest growing categories being fiber optic cables, electronic components, and industrial robots with year-on-year increase of 95.1, 32.6, and 27.9 percent respectively.

Zhuhai was home to 2,075 hi-tech enterprises and 15 domestic well-known trademarks by the end of 2021. Two local projects won National Science & Technology Awards, while nine others won Guangdong Science & Technology Awards. The ownership of invention patents in the city reached 98.83 per 10,000 persons.  

The total retail sales of consumer goods in Zhuhai rose by 13.8 percent to 104.82 billion yuan ($14.46 billion) in 2021. The city's general public budget (GPB) revenue was up by 18.2 percent to 44.82 billion yuan ($7.04 billion), while GPB expenditure expanded by 16.1 percent to 78.67 billion yuan ($12.35 billion). 

Of note, the city's expenditure on education climbed by 4.1 percent to 11.5 billion yuan ($1.8 billion), with its number of schools and kindergartens increasing by 56 to 661. A financial subsidy of 394 million yuan ($62 million) was provided for implementing 12-year compulsory education, benefiting 259,300 students in 201 schools across Zhuhai.

In addition, Zhuhai's total import and export volume grew by 21.5 percent to 332 billion yuan ($52 billion), of which 107.64 billion yuan ($16.9 billion) involved countries alongside the Belt and Road, expanding by 32.8 percent.  

Tourists enjoy a performance at Chimelong Ocean Kingdom in Hengqin [File photos courtesy Zhuhai Daily]

Zhuhai received 625,500 inbound tourists last year, up 19.1 percent from the previous year, of which 594,600 of them were from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan, an increase of 22.4 percent. A total of 424,400 of the visitors spent the night in Zhuhai, up 18 percent. The number of domestic tourists visiting Zhuhai increased by 37.3 percent year-on-year to 20.08 million, of which 9.62 million stayed overnight in the city.  

The number of medical service institutions in Zhuhai totaled 1,046, 80 more than 2020. Among them, 45 are hospitals, two are for women and children health care, one is for specialized disease prevention and treatment, while seven are disease prevention and control centers.

What's more, Zhuhai's permanent resident population reached 2.47 million in 2021, an increase of 17,100 from the end of 2020. The per capita disposable income of all residents went up by 9.8 percent to 61,390 yuan ($9,637). The urbanization rate for the permanent resident population in Zhuhai was 90.75 percent by 2021, 0.28 percentage points higher than that in 2020.