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Special coverage: Is China a developing country?

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-08-20 17:23
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Editor's Note:
 
In light of the rapid development of China's overall national strength in recent years, voices challenging China's national identity as a developing country have become louder and louder, claiming that China is a quasi superpower or that the so-called G2 of China and the United States rules the world.
 
Despite its overtaking Japan in second quarter economic output, the basic fact that China is still in the primary stage of socialism determines that the country will still be a developing nation for a long period in the future.

 

 

 

 

 

 


  

Debate: Is China still a developing country?


Pros:

Guest 2010-08-20 20:22
We must realized that the economic gap between easten coast and inner western!

Guest 2010-08-20 11:35
China's GDP is now the second-largest in the world.
But, as you mention, per capita GDP - which economists use as a proxy for living standards - is still relatively low...

Comment Here

Cons:

Guest 2010-08-22 22:33
I agree with this, China is developing faster and faster,its technology and economy is changing quite different with before...

Guest 2010-08-22 22:48
Now matter what place China ranks, the nation with the largest population and energy consumption should take more responsibilities for the world...

Comment Here

Experts' Voice

Li Qingyuan: China's developing country status
 
It is an indisputable fact that China ranks among the world's middle and low-income countries in terms of per capita gross domestic product (GDP). Based on gross national income per capita basis, the World Bank classifies countries into four categories: low income, lower middle income, upper middle income and high income economies, with the first three classified as developing nations...Read More

Ji Qiufeng: GDP hype adds to pressure on China

The "China responsibility" theories are fabricated to slow down and check China's development, revealing the uneasiness of some western countries after China continues to maintain a relatively fast growth and many major economies are undergoing a fragile recovery...Read More

Zhang Ming: China still behind Japan economically

GDP per capita is one of the most important indicators in identifying whether a country is a developed or a developing one. As per this criterion, China cannot be regarded as a middle-income country, let alone be placed on a par with Japan...Read More

David Kan Ting: With power comes responsibility

A popular saying, "with great power comes great responsibility" comes to mind when one reads of the news of China reaching another milestone in its phenomenal economic development: replacing Japan as the world's second largest economy...Read More

List of countries by GDP (nominal), Per Capita GDP (nominal), Education Enrolment, Life Expectancy and Poverty Disparity

GDP Rank 

Country

GDP (millions of USD)

Per Capita GDP (USD) 

Rank of Per Capita GDP

Combined gross enrolment Ratio in education (%) 2006

Life expectancy at birth (years) 2006

 

Population living under $1.25 (PPP) a day (%)

 

Population living under $2 (PPP) a day (%)

 

1 

United States 

14,256,275 

 46,381

9 

92.4

78.0 

N/A

N/A 

2 

Japan 

5,068,059 

39,731 

17 

86.6 

82.4 

N/A

N/A 

3 

 China

4,908,982 

3,678 

98 

68.7 

72.7 

15.9^

36.3^ 

4 

Germany 

3,352,742 

40,875 

16 

88.1e 

79.3 

N/A 

N/A 

5 

France 

2,675,951 

42,747 

15 

95.4 

80.4 

N/A 

N/A 

6 

United Kingdom 

2,183,607 

35,334 

22 

89.2e 

79.2 

N/A 

N/A 

7 

Italy 

2,118,264 

35,435 

21 

91.8 

80.4 

N/A 

N/A 

8 

Brazil 

1,574,039 

8,220 

60 

87.2f 

72 

5.2 

12.7 

9 

Spain 

1,464,040

31,946 

23 

96.5 

80.7 

N/A 

N/A

10 

Canada 

1,336,427 

39,669 

18 

99.3e,f 

80.4 

N/A 

N/A

 

Note:

1. Data of GDP rank, GDP, Per Capita GDP and rank of Per Capita GDP are based on International Monetary Fund statistics in 2009.

2. Data of Combined gross enrolment ratio in education are based on UN statistics in 2007. (e: refers to UNESCO Institute for Statistics estimate; f: Data refer to a year other than that specified.)

3. Data of Life expectancy at birth are based on UNESCO Institute for Statistics in 2008 b.

4. Column 8 lists countries by the percentage of the poorest population living below 1.25 dollar a day. The sourced data refers to the most recent year available during the period 2000-2007, Human Development Report 2009, UNDP, accessed on December 19, 2009. (ppp: purchasing power parity; N/A: not available; ^ Estimates are weighted averages of urban and rural values.)

5. Column 9 lists countries by the percentage of the poorest population living below 2 dollars a day. The sourced data refers to the most recent year available during the period 2000-2007, Human Development Report 2009, UNDP, accessed on December 19, 2009.

 

 Development imbalance between

China's East and West

Special coverage: Is China a developing country?

China's western region covers 6 provinces (Gansu, Guizhou, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Sichuan and Yunnan), 5 autonomous regions (Guangxi, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Tibet and Xinjiang), and 1 municipality (Chongqing). This region contains 71.4% of China's area, but 28.8% of its population, as of the end of 2002, and only 16.8% of its total economic output, as of 2003.

$100 billion to go to poorer West China

 Development in the west crucial to nation: Govt

China's western development to get more support

 

Development imbalance between

China's urban and rural areas

Special coverage: Is China a developing country?

In 2009, the per capita disposable income of urban residents was 17,175 yuan, and the net per capita income of rural residents was 5,153 yuan, the widest rural-urban income gap since the country launched its reform and opening-up policy in 1978. The government will put more investment, subsidies and fiscal supports into rural areas to better coordinate urban and rural development.

Urbanizing China

Leaders stress poverty reduction, urbanization

 Rural areas' healthcare lags behind: vice minister

 

 

Poverty in China

Special coverage: Is China a developing country?

Poverty in China refers to people whose income is less than the $1.25 per day poverty line set by the World Bank. Poverty has affected many aspects of China including the environment, health, education, housing and agriculture. Since the start of economic reforms in the late 1970s, China’s poverty rate has declined from 64% at the beginning of reform to 10% in 2004.

Leaders stress poverty reduction, urbanization

Wen calls for redoubled efforts in poverty reduction

40 million struggle with poverty in China

 

China's industrial structure 

Special coverage: Is China a developing country?

China's agricultural infrastructure is still vulnerable; the secondary sector is large in scale yet not powerful enough; the development of tertiary sector is lagging and some industry segments have been beset by overcapacity problems. As the world leader in labor-intensive manufacturing, China produces almost half of the world's shoes, clothes, appliances and toys.

Textile shipments to hit record

Low-wage era not over yet

'Made in China' - but for how long?