Asian Development Bank and People’s Republic of China: Fact Sheet

Abstract

Updated yearly, this ADB Fact Sheet provides social and economic indicators on the People’s Republic of China as well as concise information on ADB's operations in the country and contact information. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) stood as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies in 2008 despite the impact of the global financial crisis and natural calamities, including severe snowstorms and the massive Wenchuan earthquake. Gross domestic product (GDP) reached 9%. Following recent changes in the low-income threshold, the PRC Government announced a new official rural poverty line (Chinese yuan [CNY]1,067 [or $157] per capita from CNY785 [or $115]), which classified 43.2 million rural dwellers as poor in 2007, up from 14.8 million under the previous classification, allowing for larger government poverty relief support. The soundness of the banking system and its limited exposure to the sub-prime crisis have prevented financial turmoil contagion in the PRC, but the effects of the crisis have been felt in the real economy through falling external demand and growing unemployment. Plummeting exports reduced industrial output to a 7-year low in late 2008, and economic contraction has resulted in millions of lost jobs.