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General Economy |
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Gross Domestic Product (GDP) |
GDP for 2004 was 1.604 trillion yuan, up 14.2% from the previous year. |
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GDP ratio (primary, secondary and tertiary industries) |
The primary industry yielded a value added of 124.542 billion yuan, 4.2% more than that of the previous year; the secondary industry, 889.029 billion yuan, a growth of 18.4%; the tertiary industry, 590.375 billion yuan, a growth of 10.4%. |
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Revenue and expenditure |
Provincial revenue was 353.95 billion yuan, an increase of 18.1% over the previous year. Provincial expenditure was 185.259 billion yuan, an increase of 9.3%. |
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Consumer Price Index (CPI) |
CPI was up 3.0% from the previous year. |
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Investment in fixed assets |
Fixed asset investment was valued at 598.327 billion yuan, up by 19.9% from the previous year. |
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Major Industries |
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Agriculture |
In 2004, the province's total grain output was 13.9 million tons, 2.8% down from the previous year. |
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Industry |
The industrial added value totaled 801.115 billion yuan, an increase of 20.0%. |
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High-tech |
There were 3,065 high-tech enterprises at the year-end. The output value from high-tech industries was 830 billion yuan, 28.9% up. |
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Construction |
Its added value was 37.758 billion yuan, up by 18.7%. |
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Transportation |
Freight carried by various means of transport for the year was 7.4% up from the previous year to reach 393.89 billion ton-kilometers, while passengers carried by various means of transport numbered 172.453 billion, 14.5% up. |
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Postal services |
The annual turnover of postal operations totaled 5.508 billion yuan, 1.4% up from the previous year. |
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Telecommunications |
The annual turnover of telecommunications services totaled 174.664 billion yuan, up by 52.1%. |
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Retail |
The annual turnover from retail sales reached 637.042 billion yuan, an increase of 10.4% from the previous year. |
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Tourism |
Revenue from tourism totaled 166.39 billion yuan, up by 24.3%. |
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Continued Effects of Market Reform |
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Imports & exports |
The annual value of imports and exports totaled US$357.133 billion, 26.0% up from the year before. |
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Economic and technological cooperation |
Overseas project and labor contracts signed during the year, numbering 12,294, were valued at US$1.96 billion, up 62.9% from the previous year. Business turnover for the year totaled US$1.9 million, an increase of 73.9% from the previous year. |
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Foreign investment |
The foreign direct investment which was materialized during the year stood at US$10.012 billion, up by 34.1%. |
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Urban Construction and Management |
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Road transport |
The year saw the construction of 992 km of new highways including 217 km of express highways, and the renovation of 4,349 km of existing highways. |
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Public services |
By the year-end, the number of domestic sewage treatment plants had reached 61, with a daily capacity of treating 5.19 million tons of sewage. |
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Social Undertakings |
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Education |
The number of students enrolled in postgraduate schools and institutions of higher learning during the year stood at 14,800 and 264,600 respectively. |
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Culture |
By the end of 2004, the province had a total of 142 arts performance organizations, 142 cultural and arts centers, 128 public libraries, and 143 museums. |
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Public health |
At the end of 2004, there were 15,394 health and medical institutions staffed with 278,100 people and equipped with 178,000 beds. |
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Sports |
Athletes from the province won first prize in 23 world sports events and 17 Asian events. |
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Welfare and aid |
The province put in 105 million yuan as disaster relief fund. By the year-end, 1.159 million people had been covered by the system to guarantee their minimum living standard, an increase of 120,000 people compared with the 2003 figure. Various welfare units across the province put up 62,126 homeless and vagrant people. The funds raised through selling welfare lottery totaled 1.07 billion yuan in 2004. |
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Population, Employment, Social Security and Living Standards |
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Population |
The year 2004 saw a birth rate of 13.13‰, and a mortality rate of 5.12‰. The natural growth rate of the population stood at 8.01‰. At the end of the year, the total population stood at 83.037 million. |
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Employment |
The employed population stood at 46.20 million at the year-end. Some 1.05 million new jobs were created during the year, and a total of 253,000 laid-off workers got re-employed. |
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Registered unemployment rate |
The registered urban unemployment rate was 2.7%, 0.2 percentage points down from the previous year-end. |
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Social security |
In 2004, insurance plans for endowments, unemployment, medical treatment, and industrial injury covered a population of 12.255 million, 10.058 million, 10.342 million, and 12.151 million respectively. These figures are respectively 7.0%, 5.4%, 17.9% and 8.5% up from the 2003 figures. |
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Residents' income |
The disposable income of urban residents was 13,628 yuan per capita, up by 7.3% from 2003. Rural residents' per capita net income was 4,366 yuan, up by 4.0%. |
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Geography and Natural Conditions |
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Topography |
The province is high in the north and low in the south. Mountains make up 31.7% of the total area, hilly areas 28.5%, terraced farmland 16.1% and plains 23.7%. It has 3.12 million hectares of farmland, 10.25 million hectares devoted to forestry and 570,000 hectares of underdeveloped grasslands. |
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Climate |
Most areas enjoy a subtropical monsoon climate with adequate rainfall, long summers and warm winters. Annual precipitation averages 1,336 mm while annual evaporation averages 1,100 mm so Guangdong is moist. Its average annual temperature is 22°C and it averages 1,828 hours of sunshine a year. Guangdong is a green place where plants grow vigorously all the year round. |
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Natural resources |
Guangdong boasts rich mineral resources. So far, a total of 17 minerals have been discovered, and reserves of 13 minerals have been proven.
Forests cover 57% of the province with standing timber reserves of 300 million cubic meters. Species include pine, Chinese catalpa, fir and eucalyptus.
The province has extensive access to the sea together with a network of interconnected waterways with many reservoirs and fish ponds. It is rich in aquatic products. Its marine breeding areas cover 780,000 ha and it has a further 430,000 ha of freshwater breeding areas. The main crops are rice, vegetables and fruit. Zhanjiang is the main center for sisal hemp while fruit production is predominately based around Maoming. Among the 200 varieties of fruit grown in Guangdong are pineapples, bananas and litchi, together with longans and oranges.
The province faces a shortage of water resources. The per capita share of water resources in 2004 was 1,390 cubic meters, 24.0% down from the 2003 figure. At the year-end, the total water storage in 31 large reservoirs amounted to 10.85 billion cubic meters, a reduction of 34 million cubic meters. The annual water consumption of the province was 45.4 billion cubic meters.
The year 2004 saw a reduction of 21,489 ha of cultivated land as a result of construction, disasters and readjustment of agricultural structures. |
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Tourism resources |
There are 40 forest parks and 30 nature reserves designated at provincial level. Guangdong is now seeing more and more of its cities designated as "Excellent Tourist Cities" for the list now includes Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Zhaoqing, Zhongshan, Foshan, Jiangmen, Shantou, Huizhou and Hainan. In particular Zhongshan and Hainan rank first and second among the cities at prefecture and county levels to have been awarded this honor.
Development of the tourism triangle based on Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao has now taken off. The State Council has approved the introduction of a 144-hour visa endorsement service in 10 cities in the Zhujiang River Delta and Shantou City.
Eleven of the province's scenic spots and scenic areas are now graded 4-A designating them as top quality tourist areas:
1. Baiyun Hill in Guangzhou
2. Xiangjiang Wildlife Park in Guangzhou
3. Overseas Chinese Town in Shenzhen
4. Guanlan Golf Course in Shenzhen
5. Yuanming New Park in Zhuhai
6. Dr. Sun Yat-sen's birthplace in Zhongshan
7. Star Lake in Zhaoqing
8. Mount Sijiao in Foshan
9. Mount Danxia in Shaoguan
10. Qingxin Hot Springs in Qingyuan
11. Hailing Island's Dajiao Bay in Yangjiang |
