China has been greatly boosting living standards in the past 75 years with unprecedented economic growth, urbanization, and advancements in healthcare and green technologies, among other fields, according to a China Global Television Network (CGTN) video commentary released on Tuesday.
In the latest episode of "The Watcher," Robert Lawrence Kuhn, an international corporate strategist and investment banker, dived into China's remarkable story of growth and progress since the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) 75 years ago, emphasizing the country's resolve to continue improving its economy and the livelihoods of its people.
The following is the text of Kuhn's commentary:
China's economic miracle, the astonishing increase of the standards of living of 1.4 billion people. Disposable personal income in China, a good test, rose from 171 yuan or about one 108 U.S. dollars in 1978 after the ruinous Cultural Revolution, to nearly 40,000 yuan or about 5,500 U.S. dollars in 2023. A leap of about 228 times in yuan terms and about 50 times in U.S. dollar terms. When China's reform and opening up policy began, the country was among the poorest in the world with a per capita GDP less than one third of the average of African countries.
From 1978 to 2023, the country sustained the longest and greatest economic growth in human history. The average annual economic growth rate over these 45 years was an unprecedented 8.9 percent. In the annals of human economics, no country has ever achieved such high speed and unceasing economic growth for such a long period. Urbanization increased from under 20 percent in 1980 to over 65 percent in 2023. China learned to feed nearly 20 percent of the global population, with under 10 percent of the world's arable land.
In every category of living, the Chinese people have enjoyed spectacular improvement. In 2008, high-speed railways were barely more than 1,000 kilometers. Now they exceed 45,000 kilometers more than 70 percent of the entire world. Modern agriculture and biological breeding have provided food security, health care and hospital reform and national medical insurance have substantially improved people's health. Green and low carbon technologies have reduced pollution. From 2013 to 2022, China added 130 million new urban jobs, an average of 13 million per year, and the world's largest social security system has been built, improving people's well-being and sense of security.
As of September 2023, the number of participants in basic pension, unemployment and work-related injury insurance nationwide is 1.06 billion, 240 million and 300 million respectively. Social security card holders number 1.377 billion, covering 97.4 percent of the population. Although the road has not been straight and there have been obstacles and delays, challenges and setbacks, accomplishments have been remarkable.
Rightfully proud of its achievements, China is not sitting satisfied. There are serious challenges, especially because China's investment-led economy, primarily infrastructure and property construction, which drove growth for over two decades, faces long-term slowdown. In 2023, fixed capital formation was still above 40 percent of GDP, which is no longer sustainable or desirable.
he continual flows of credit from China's financial system can no longer support such levels of fixed asset investments, especially given leadership's commitment to reduce financial risk. That's why, looking to the future under President Xi Jinping, the country is pivoting toward prioritizing Chinese modernization through high quality development and new quality productive forces, especially in science and technology.
China's current GDP accounts for nearly 17 percent of the world's total GDP. China's leaders have set the country's GDP growth target, at around five percent for the past two years. What does this mean? China's 5-percent growth can contribute more than 30 percent of the world's growth, thus benefiting the world as well as its own citizens.
China's remains determined after boosting living standards of 1.4 billion people: CGTN commentator
