The latest data from China’s National Bureau of Statistics points to an ongoing expansion in the service sector’s share of economic output.
Ning Jizhe (宁吉喆), head of the NBS, revealed at a press conference held on 10 October that the tertiary sector accounted for 54.1% of Chinese GDP in the first half of 2017.
NBS data indicates that 2015 marked the first year that the tertiary sector broke through the 50% threshold in terms of its share of GDP, accounting for 50.5% in total.
In 2016 the tertiary sector saw its share of economic activity rise further to 51.6%, 11.8 percentage points ahead of secondary industry.
During the period from 2013 to 2016, the tertiary sector saw average annual growth in its value added of 8.0%, beating out GDP growth by 0.8 percentage points.
While China’s first half GDP saw an increase of 6.9%, year-on-year growth in tertiary sector value added for the same period came in at 7.7%.
China’s central government has ambitious plans for tertiary sector growth, with the “Services Sector Innovation Framework (2017 – 2025)” (服务业创新发展大纲（2017~2025年）) released by the National Development and Reform Commission in June expecting its share of GDP to rise to 60% by 2025, and its share of total employment to lift to 55%.
