This article includes a list of China's historical gross domestic product (GDP) values, the market value of all final goods and services produced by a nation in a given year. The GDP dollar estimates presented here are either calculated at market or government official exchange rates (nominal), or derived from purchasing power parity (PPP) calculations. This article also includes historical GDP growth. Unless otherwise specified, the GDP per capita here is based on the average population. The annual average population or mid-year population is the average of the resident population at the end of the two consecutive years.

In 1985, the State Council of China (SCC) approved the establishment of a SNA (System of National Accounting), using GDP to measure the national economy. China started to study and then implement a new system of national economic accounting. In 1986, as the first citizen of the People's Republic of China to receive a Ph.D. in economics from an overseas country, Fengbo Zhang headed Chinese Macroeconomic Research - the key research project of the seventh five-year plan, as well as completing and publishing the Chinese GDP data according to China's own research and calculations. A summary of the above events has been included in the book "Chinese Macroeconomic Structure and Policy" (June 1988) edited by Fengbo Zhang, and collectively authored by the Research Center of the SCC. This is the first GDP data which was published by China.

The research utilized the World Bank's method as a reference, and made numerous appropriate adjustments based on China's national condition. The GDP also has been converted to U.S. dollar-based data by utilizing the moving average exchange rate. The research systematically completed China's GDP and GDP per capita from 1952 to 1986 and analyzed growth rate, the change and contribution rates of each component. The research also included international comparisons. Additionally, the research compared MPS and SNA, looking at the results from the two systems from analyzing Chinese economy. This achievement created the foundation for China GDP research.

The SCC issued "The notice regarding implementation of System of National Accounting" in August 1992, the Western SNA system officially is introduced to China, replaced Soviet Union's MPS system, Western economic indicator GDP became China's most important economic indicator. Based on Dr. Fengbo Zhang's research, in 1997, the National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBS), in collaboration with Hitotsubashi University of Japan, re-estimated China's GDP Data from 1952 up to 1995 based on the SNA principal. In 2016, the 2008 SNA was formally brought into use.

During this period, there were many data adjustments, with weighting factors undergoing significant changes along with each year's comparable price amendments, statistical method significant changes result in the substantial deviation. Even with science and technology as advanced as it is today, the single item survey is allowed at least ±3%, or a total of 6% deviation. Despite the extremely difficult conditions of a destroyed economy, blank theory, a lack of data, and simple methods in the 1980s, there is so little deviation for such a long period of time and the comprehensiveness of the national economic indicator, indicates that the research conducted by Fengbo Zhang with the support of the extensive group he trained is extremely rigorous, and their result very precise.China Economic History Xie Fuzhan, former director, and Ma Jiantang, current director of the NBS, both participated in Dr. Fengbo Zhang's research project in the 1980s, as assistant researcher and graduate student, respectively, of the Research Center of the SCC.

Current status

The gross domestic product of China in 2019 was , or (nominal).

China's nominal GDP surpassed that of Italy in 2000, France in 2005, the United Kingdom in 2006, Germany in 2007, Japan in 2010 and that of the Eurozone in 2018 making China the world's third largest economy after the European Union and United States. But adjusting for purchasing power parity (PPP), China became the world's second largest economy as early as 1999 surpassing Japan, and surpassed America’s in 2014.

From 1979 until 2010, China's average annual GDP growth was 9.91%, reaching a historical high of 15.2% in 1984 and a record low of 3.8% in 1990. Based on the current price, the country's average annual GDP growth in these 32 years was 15.8%, reaching an historical high of 36.41% in 1994 and a record low of 6.25% in 1999.

China NBS data

Annual GDP

China's Historical Nominal GDP for 1952–present year GDP GDP per capita China uses the calendar year as its fiscal year, its official GDP per capita is based on mid-year population. The mid-year population is the average at the end of the previous year and the end of the current year Reference index billions of GDP real(%) GDP per capita real(%)thousands For the exchange rate of 2024, refer to China NBS ; Refer to the national statistical database for the historical exchange rates , and for the historical exchange rates also published on the statistical yearbooks CNYUSDCNYUSDp2025 140,187.92 19,626.19 5.0 99,665 13,953 5.2 1,406,585 7.1429 r2024 134,806.62 18,928.99 5.0 95,677 13,435 5.1 1,408,975 7.1217 2023 129,427.17 18,367.06 5.4 91,746 13,020 5.5 1,410,710 7.04672022 123,402.94 18,346.88 3.1 87,385 12,992 3.1 1,412,175 6.72612021 117,382.30 18,194.57 8.6 83,111 12,882 8.5 1,412,360 6.45152020 103,486.76 15,003.30 2.3 73,338 10,632 2.1 1,411,100 6.89762019 100,587.24 14,581.03 6.1 71,453 10,358 5.7 1,407,745 6.89852018 93,601.01 14,144.68 6.8 66,726 10,083 6.3 1,402,760 6.61742017 84,738.29 12,550.47 6.9 60,691 8,989 6.2 1,396,215 6.75182016 76,119.30 11,459.78 6.8 54,849 8,258 6.2 1,387,790 6.64232015 70,251.15 11,279.16 7.0 50,912 8,174 6.4 1,379,860 6.22842014 65,578.29 10,675.63 7.5 47,802 7,782 6.8 1,371,860 6.14282013 60,366.04 9,747.15 7.8 44,281 7,150 7.1 1,363,240 6.19322012 54,751.06 8,673.44 7.9 40,431 6,405 7.1 1,354,190 6.31252011 49,570.76 7,674.92 9.5 36,855 5,706 8.9 1,345,035 6.45882010 41,925.33 6,193.27 10.6 31,341 4,630 10.1 1,337,705 6.76952009 35,452.16 5,189.89 9.4 26,631 3,899 8.9 1,331,260 6.83102008 32,431.78 4,669.74 9.7 24,483 3,525 9.1 1,324,655 6.94512007 27,417.97 3,605.73 14.2 20,805 2,736 13.6 1,317,885 7.60402006 22,257.84 2,792.07 12.7 16,977 2,130 12 1,311,020 7.97182005 18,990.75 2,318.29 11.5 14,567 1,778 10.8 1,303,720 8.19172004 16,422.80 1,984.20 10.1 12,671 1,531 9.5 1,296,075 8.27682003 13,937.73 1,683.91 10.1 10,818 1,307 9.4 1,288,400 8.27702002 12,331.19 1,489.81 9.2 9,631 1,164 8.5 1,280,400 8.27702001 11,215.73 1,355.05 8.3 8,818 1,065 7.5 1,271,850 8.27702000 10,130.86 1,223.77 8.6 8,024 969 7.7 1,262,645 8.27841999 9,137.89 1,103.84 7.7 7,294 881 6.8 1,252,735 8.27831998 8,586.39 1,037.12 7.9 6,914 835 6.9 1,241,935 8.27911997 8,022.50 967.76 9.3 6,522 787 8.2 1,230,075 8.28981996 7,221.06 868.52 10.0 5,931 713 8.8 1,217,550 8.31421995 6,164.94 738.23 11.0 5,117 613 9.8 1,204,855 8.35101994 4,886.22 566.93 13.1 4,100 476 11.8 1,191,835 8.61871993 3,581.97 621.65 13.9 3,040 528 12.6 1,178,440 5.76201992 2,729.56 494.97 14.3 2,343 425 12.9 1,164,970 5.51461991 2,207.09 414.61 9.4 1,918 360 7.9 1,150,780 5.32331990 1,890.96 395.33 3.9 1,666 348 2.4 1,135,185 4.78321989 1,721.00 457.09 4.2 1,538 408 2.6 1,118,650 3.76511988 1,520.64 408.54 11.2 1,380 371 9.4 1,101,630 3.72211987 1,219.61 327.67 11.7 1,125 302 9.9 1,084,035 3.72211986 1,039.52 301.07 8.9 974 282 7.3 1,066,790 3.45281985 911.59 310.41 13.4 867 295 11.9 1,051,040 2.93671984 729.24 313.38 15.2 703 302 13.7 1,036,825 2.32701983 603.25 305.33 10.8 590 299 9.2 1,023,310 1.97571982 538.36 284.47 9.0 534 282 7.4 1,008,630 1.89251981 494.47 290.01 5.1 498 292 3.8 993,885 1.70501980 459.57 306.71 7.8 468 312 6.5 981,235 1.49841979 410.72 264.15 7.6 424 273 6.2 969,005 1.55491978 368.48 218.86 11.7 385 229 10.2 956,165 1.68361977 325.54 175.23 7.6 345 186 6.1 943,460 1.85781976 299.36 154.20 -1.6 322 166 -3.1 930,690 1.94141975 304.43 163.69 8.7 332 179 6.8 916,400 1.85981974 283.22 144.41 2.3 315 161 0.2 900,350 1.96121973 276.06 138.77 7.8 313 157 5.3 881,940 1.98941972 255.65 113.87 3.8 297 132 1.3 862,030 2.24511971 246.08 99.96 7.1 293 119 4.2 841,110 2.46181970 228.34 92.75 19.3 279 113 16.1 818,320 2.46181969 196.57 79.85 16.9 247 100 13.7 796,030 2.46181968 174.74 70.98 -4.0 226 92 -6.5 774,510 2.46181967 179.74 73.01 -5.7 238 97 -8.1 754,550 2.46181966 189.20 76.85 10.7 257 104 7.6 735,400 2.46181965 173.72 70.57 17.0 243 99 14.2 715,190 2.46181964 147.27 59.82 18.2 211 86 15.5 698,360 2.46181963 125.09 50.81 10.3 183 74 7.6 682,340 2.46181962 116.47 47.31 -5.6 175 71 -6.3 665,770 2.46181961 123.49 50.16 -27.3 187 76 -26.5 660,330 2.46181960 147.33 59.85 221 90 -0.2 667,070 2.46181959 145.05 55.43 9.0 218 83 6.9 666,010 2.61701958 131.49 50.50 21.3 201 77 18.4 653,240 2.60401957 107.35 41.23 5.1 168 65 2.4 637,410 2.60401956 103.26 39.65 15.0 166 64 12.7 621,470 2.60401955 91.31 35.07 6.9 150 58 4.6 608,660 2.60401954 86.12 33.07 4.3 145 56 1.8 595,310 2.60401953 82.59 31.72 15.6 142 55 13.1 581,390 2.60401952 68.02 30.60 120 54 568,910 2.2227

Gross national income and GDP by industries

GDP by industries (Chinese yuan)