GDP growth disappoints: China’s GDP grew 4.3% in annual terms in Q2, following 5.0% growth in the previous quarter. Q2’s...
Economic Growth in China
China's economy recorded an average growth rate of 5.9% in the decade to 2024, compared to the 4.9% average for East & South Asia. In 2024, real GDP growth was 5.0%. For more GDP information, visit our dedicated page.
China GDP Chart
Note: This chart displays Economic Growth (GDP, annual variation in %) for China from 2014 to 2025.
Source: Macrobond.
China GDP Data
| 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Economic Growth (Real GDP, ann. var. %) | 8.4 | 3.0 | 5.2 | 5.0 | 4.9 |
| GDP (USD bn) | 18,197 | 18,330 | 18,282 | 18,750 | 19,503 |
| GDP (CNY bn) | 117,382 | 123,403 | 129,427 | 134,807 | 140,188 |
| Economic Growth (Nominal GDP, ann. var. %) | 13.4 | 5.1 | 4.9 | 4.2 | 3.4 |
Economic growth decelerates in the second quarter of 2026
GDP growth disappoints: China's GDP grew 4.3% in annual terms in Q2, following 5.0% growth in the previous quarter. Q2's reading was the weakest since Q4 2022 and undershot market expectations. In seasonally adjusted quarter-on-quarter terms, GDP grew 0.9% in Q2, following 1.3% growth in the previous quarter.
Broad-based slowdown: Compared to the prior quarter's data, figures in Q2 softened for the services sector (+5.1% in annual terms vs +5.2% in Q1), the industrial sector (+3.0% vs +4.9% in Q1) and the agricultural sector (+3.7% vs +3.8% in Q1). Looking at underlying drivers, the economy was weighed on by soft consumer sentiment, payback after consumers had previously front-loaded some retail purchases under the government’s trade-in scheme, tight fiscal policy, and ongoing weakness in the construction and property sectors. In contrast, buoyant stock trading boosted the financial services sector.
Panelist insight: ING’s Lynn Song said: “Overall, we expect China to be able to hit its full-year growth target of 4.5-5.0%. As things stand, risks to our 4.7% YoY full-year GDP forecast look balanced to the downside. It’s uncertain how long it will take to announce and roll out policy support to arrest the downward momentum. Without support, we're likely to see growth continue to grind lower. However, as we are in the first year of the 15th Five-Year period, it's likely that policymakers would prefer not to come in at the low end of this band.”
Consensus Forecasts and Projections for the next ten years
How should you choose a forecaster if some are too optimistic while others are too pessimistic? FocusEconomics collects Chinese GDP projections for the next ten years from a panel of 65 analysts at the leading national, regional and global forecast institutions. These projections are then validated by our in-house team of economists and data analysts and averaged to provide one Consensus Forecast you can rely on for each indicator. By averaging all forecasts, upside and downside forecasting errors tend to cancel each other out, leading to the most reliable GDP forecast available for Chinese GDP.
Download one of our sample reports to visualize what a Consensus Forecast is and see our Chinese GDP projections.
Want to get access to the full dataset of Chinese GDP forecasts? Send an email to info@focus-economics.com.
Latest Global GDP News
-
China: Economic growth decelerates in the second quarter of 2026 -
United Kingdom: Economy rebounds in May GDP reading: GDP increased 0.1% on a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis in May, following a 0.1% drop in the previous... -
Kenya: Economic growth hits over one-year high in the first quarter of 2026 GDP reading: Kenya’s GDP increased 5.3% on a year-on-year basis in Q1, following a 4.0% expansion in the previous quarter.... -
Vietnam: Vietnam’s GDP growth surges in Q2 Economic growth overshoots estimates: Vietnam’s GDP grew 8.4% in annual terms in Q2, following upwardly revised 7.9% growth in the... -
Netherlands: Economic growth eases in the first quarter of 2026 Q1 GDP growth revised up from flash estimate: The second Q1 GDP release showed that the Netherlands’ economy expanded 0.2%... -
Canada: Economy recovers in April GDP reading: GDP was up 0.5% on a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis in April, following a 0.1% decline in the... -
Costa Rica: Economic growth eases in the first quarter of 2026 GDP growth slows to an over one-year low in Q1: Costa Rica’s GDP expanded 3.7% on a year-on-year basis in...