Economy - Economic Structure & Trends

Regional Development Index (RDI) of China, 2002

Note: This regional development index of China is composed of six component indices, including an indices of economic growth, investments, household income and savings, consumptions, inflation and purchasing power, as well as an index of tourism income and foreign exchange earnings. The values are standardized with a mean of zero and a standard deviation of 1.

Source: Heilig, G.K. (2004): RAPS-China. A regional analysis an planning system for China. Laxenburg, Austria

This map clearly illustrates that economic development in China is highly concentrated in a small number of coastal provinces and urban areas. Much of China's interior and western provinces are far below the national average.

We also can see a "low-development belt" in China, ranging from the far-western province of Xinjiang to Gansu provinc and further to the south-central provinces of Guizhou and Guangxi.