In 2024, the annual real growth of the gross domestic product (GDP) in different regions in China varied from around 6.3 percent in Tibet autonomous region to 2.3 percent in Shanxi province. The average national GDP growth ranged at 5.0 percent in 2024.

Regional gross domestic product (GDP) in China varies tremendously across the country. In 2024, the GDP of Guangdong province amounted to around **** trillion yuan, whereas that of Tibet only reached about ***** billion yuan. While Guangdong has a thriving economy and is densely populated, Tibet is located in a remote mountain area and has a population of only around *** million people. Regional economic differences in China China can generally be divided into four different economic macro-regions: the economically well-developed coastal parts in Eastern China, the less-developed Central and Northeastern China, and the developing region of Western China. This division is reflected in the figures for regional per capita GDP. The coastal parts of China are not only economically more advanced, but also have a considerably higher population density. This is the result of climatic conditions on the one hand and China's firm integration into the global economy on the other. International companies were initially attracted by special economic zones set up in coastal areas during China's market opening, and well-connected, highly developed urban areas of Eastern China are still favored by international businesses. Prospects for future development The Chinese government has long since been aware of the economic disparities in the country and the political unrest they might stir. Major efforts have been made to improve the conditions in less developed regions. The situation in Central and Western China has improved considerably in the last two decades, and rural poverty decreased on a striking scale. In recent years, growth rates in the west of China have even been higher than in coastal areas. However, the constraints of the global economy remain, and it is very likely that Eastern China will stay ahead in international markets in the foreseeable future.

In 2023, approximately 127.1 million people lived in Guangdong province in China. That same year, only about 3.65 million people lived in the sparsely populated highlands of Tibet. Regional differences in China China is the world’s most populous country, with an exceptional economic growth momentum. The country can be roughly divided into three regions: Western, Eastern, and Central China. Western China covers the most remote regions from the sea. It also has the highest proportion of minority population and the lowest levels of economic output. Eastern China, on the other hand, enjoys a high level of economic development and international corporations. Central China lags behind in comparison to the booming coastal regions. In order to accelerate the economic development of Western and Central Chinese regions, the PRC government has ramped up several incentive plans such as ‘Rise of Central China’ and ‘China Western Development’. Economic power of different provinces When observed individually, some provinces could stand an international comparison. Jiangxi province, for example, a medium-sized Chinese province, had a population size comparable to Argentina or Spain in 2023. That year, the GDP of Zhejiang, an eastern coastal province, even exceeded the economic output of the Netherlands. In terms of per capita annual income, the municipality of Shanghai reached a level close to that of the Czech Republik. Nevertheless, as shown by the Gini Index, China’s economic spur leaves millions of people in dust. Among the various kinds of economic inequality in China, regional or the so-called coast-inland disparity is one of the most significant. Posing as evidence for the rather large income gap in China, the poorest province Heilongjiang had a per capita income similar to that of Sri Lanka that year.

In 2024, approximately 67 percent of the total population in China lived in cities. The urbanization rate has increased steadily in China over the last decades. Degree of urbanization in China Urbanization is generally defined as a process of people migrating from rural to urban areas, during which towns and cities are formed and increase in size. Even though urbanization is not exclusively a modern phenomenon, industrialization and modernization did accelerate its progress. As shown in the statistic at hand, the degree of urbanization of China, the world's second-largest economy, rose from 36 percent in 2000 to around 51 percent in 2011. That year, the urban population surpassed the number of rural residents for the first time in the country's history.The urbanization rate varies greatly in different parts of China. While urbanization is lesser advanced in western or central China, in most coastal regions in eastern China more than two-thirds of the population lives already in cities. Among the ten largest Chinese cities in 2021, six were located in coastal regions in East and South China. Urbanization in international comparison Brazil and Russia, two other BRIC countries, display a much higher degree of urbanization than China. On the other hand, in India, the country with the worlds’ largest population, a mere 36.3 percent of the population lived in urban regions as of 2023. Similar to other parts of the world, the progress of urbanization in China is closely linked to modernization. From 2000 to 2024, the contribution of agriculture to the gross domestic product in China shrank from 14.7 percent to 6.8 percent. Even more evident was the decrease of workforce in agriculture.