and poverty relief and
through rural tax reform. Accession to the World Trade Organization
helps strengthen its ability to maintain strong growth rates but at
the same time puts additional pressure on the hybrid system of
strong political controls and growing market influences. China has
benefited from a huge expansion in computer internet use. Foreign
investment remains a strong element in China's remarkable economic
growth. Growing shortages of electric power and raw materials will
hold back the expansion of industrial output in 2004.

GDP:
purchasing power parity - $6.449 trillion (2003 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
9.1% (official data) (2003 est.)

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $5,000 (2003 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 14.8%
industry and construction: 52.9%
services: 32.3% (2003)

Investment (gross fixed):
43.4% of GDP (2003)

Population below poverty line:
10% (2001 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 2.4%
highest 10%: 30.4% (1998)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:
40 (2001)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
1.2% (2003 est.)

Labor force:
778.1 million (2003 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture 50%, industry 22%, services 28% (2001 est.)

Unemployment rate:
10.1% urban unemployment roughly 10%; substantial unemployment and
underemployment in rural areas (2003 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $265.8 billion
expenditures: $300.2 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA
(2003)

Public debt:
30.1% of GDP (2003)

Agriculture - products:
rice, wheat, potatoes, sorghum, peanuts, tea, millet, barley,
cotton, oilseed, pork, fish

Industries:
iron and steel, coal, machine building, armaments, textiles and
apparel, petroleum, cement, chemical fertilizers, footwear, toys,
food processing, automobiles, consumer electronics,
telecommunications

Industrial production growth rate:
30.4% (2003 est.)

Electricity - production:
1.42 trillion kWh (2001)

Electricity - consumption:
1.312 trillion kWh (2001)

Electricity - exports:
10.3 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - imports:
1.8 billion kWh (2001)

Oil - production:
3.3 million bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - consumption:
4.57 million bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - exports:
151,200 bbl/day (2001)

Oil - imports:
1.207 million bbl/day (2001)

Oil - proved reser