EXPLANATORY NOTES ON MAIN STATISTICAL INDICATORS
Gross Domestic Product refers to gross domestic product calculated at market prices, which is the final products of all resident units in a country (or region) during a certain period of time. Gross domestic product is expressed in three different forms, i. e. value added, income, and products respectively. The form of value added refers to the total value of all products and services prouced by all resident units during a certain period of time minus total value of input of materials and services of the nature of non-fixed assets or the summation of the value added of all resident units; the form of income includes all the income created by all resident units and distributed primarily to all resident and non-resident units;the form of products refers to all final goods and services minus imports of goods and services. In the practice of national accounting, gross domestic product is calculated with three approaches, i. e. product approach, income approach and expenditure approach respectively to reflect gross domestic product and its composition from different aspects.
Gross National Productrefers to gross natinoal product calculated at market price, which is the final result of the primary distribution of the income created by all the resident units of a country during a certain period of time. The value added created by the resident units of a country engaged in production activities is mainly distributed to the resident units of that country while a part of it is distributed to the non-resident units of the country in the form of remuneration for the labourers and property income. Simultaneously a part of the value added created abroad is distribuuted to the resident units of the country in the form of remueration for the labourers and property income. Simu ltaneously a part of the value added created abroad is distributed to the resident units of the country in the form of remuneration for the laboures and property income .Thus the concept of gross national product is formed which equals to gross domestic product plus overseas income as remuneration for the labourers and property income minus payment abroad as remuneration for the labourers and property income. Unlike gross domestic product which is a concept of production, gross national product is a concept of income.
The defference among gross national product and total value of society and national income is the the total value of society and national income only take into account products of material production sectors .while the gross national product, in addition to products of material production sectors ,also takes into account of products of non-material production sectors.In term of the value composition of the three conceptions,the total value of society includes the total value of all products of the society; the gross national product includes only the newly created value in the process of producing goods and services, i.e. the value added and excludes the value of the input of intermediate goods and services; National in come excludes both the intermediate input and depreciation of fixed assets and includes only the net value of output.
Comparable Pricesare applied when comparing indicators of value over time to reflect accurately the changes in real term. Two methods are used for calculationg comparable prices: 1. Multiplying the output of products by their constant prices of certain year; 2. Conversion of the data in current prices by relevant price index.
Constant Pricerefers to the average price of a given product in certain year, which is used for comparison of output value over time. As the output value at constant prices removes the factor of price changes,it reflects the trend of production development over time. Since 1949, with the changes in general price level, the State Statistical Bureau has issued nationally unified constant prices five times: the 1952 constant prices for 1949-1957; the 1957 constant prices for 1958-1970; the 1970 constant prices for 1971-1981; the 1980 constant prices for 1981-1957; the 1957 constant prices for 1958-1970; the 1970 constant prices for 1971-1981; the 1980 constant prices for 1981-1990; and the 1990 constant prices have been used since 1991.
Average Annual Growth RateTwo methoids fr calculcating average annual growth rate are applied in China, one is often called “level approach” or the method of calculating geometric average, which is derived by comparing the level of the last year of the interval with that of the beginning year; the other is called “accumulative approach” or algebraic average or equation method, which is derived by the summation of the actual figure of each year in the intervaldivided by the figure in the base year.
Usually the results calculated by the two methods are fairly close, but they differed sharply when uneven economic development occurred with striking fluctuations in growth.
The average annual growth rates listed in this statistical yearbook are calculated by “level approach” except for the growth rate of investment in fixed assest.
The base years are not listed when the years are listed for average annual growth rates. For instance, the average annual growth rate of 43 years since 1949 is listed as average annual growth rate of 1950-1992 without listing the base year 1949. And the analogy of this is also for the rest.
Various Planning Periods The conventional division of time period in this statistical yearbook is as follows:Economic Rehabilitation Period, 1950-1952; The first five-year plan period, 1953-1957; the second five-year plan period. 1958-1962; The third five-year plan period, 1966-1970; The fourth five-year plan period, 1971-1975; The fifth five-year plan period. 1976-1980; The sixth five-year plan period, 1985; The seventh five-year plan period, 1986-1990; The eighth five-year plan period, 1991-1995.
State-owned Economic Units refer to various enterprises,institutions, and government administrative organizations at various levels, social organizations and etc. with state ownership of production means.
Collective-Owned Economic Units refer to various enterprises and institutions with collective ownership of production means, including various rural economic organizations engaged in farming, forestry, animal husbandry, sideline production, and fishery, enterprises and institutions run by townships and villages; collective enterprises and institutions run by cities, counties, towns and subdistrict offices.
Private-Owned Economic Units refer to economic units owned by private individuals,incluing individual owned private enterprises, jointly owned private enterprises, and private owned companies, Ltd.
Joint Owned Units refer to economic entities jointly invested by enterprises of different types of ownership or by enterprises and institutions, and the partnerships among the joint owned units can be close, half close, or loose.
Share Holding Economic Units refer to enterprises invested in the form of share holding with its investment by all the share holders, which mainly include companies limited by shares and companies with limited liabilites.
Foreign Owned Economic Units refer to enterprises established by foreigners in the territory of mainland China according to related economic laws and regulations of the People's Republic of China as joint vetures, cooperative corporations, or ventures exclusively with sole investment, including joint ventures, cooperative enterprises, and foreign enterprises.
Economic Units Funded by Overseas Chinese from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan refer to enterprises established by entrepreneurs from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan in the territory of mainland China according to related economic laws and regulations of the People's Republic of China as joint ventures, cooperative corporations and ventures exclusively with sole investment, including joint ventures, cooperative enterprises, and exclusively invested enterprises.
Three Industries Industry structure has been classified according to the historical sequence of development. Primary industry refers to extraction of natural resources; secondary industry involves processing of primary products; and tertiary industry provides services of various kinds for production and consumption. The above classification is universal although it varies to some extent form country to country. Industry in China comprises:
Primary industry: agriculture (including farming, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery).
Secondray industry: industry (including minimg and quarrying, manufacturing, water supply, electricity generation and supply, steam, hot water, gas) and construction.
Tertiary industry: all other industries not included in primary or secondary industry.
Due to the fact that tertiary industry involves in a large variety of industries in China, it is divided into two sectors:circulation sector and service sector and service sector and further into four levels:
The first level: circulation sector, including transportation, postal and telecommunications, services, commerce, catering trade, material supply and marketing, and storage.
The second level:service sector providing services for production and consumption, including banking, insurance, geological survey, real estates, public utilities, service for residents, consultancy service, and comprehensive technical services, and service for agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, fishery, water conservancy, and maintenance of roads and inland water ways, etc.
The third level:service sector for upgrading scintific, educational and cultural level of the people, including education, culture, broadcasting, television, scientific research, public health, sports, and social welfare, etc.
The fourth level: sector providing services for public needs, including government agencies, political and party organizations, social organizations, armies, and policemen.
GDP Calculated with Expenditure Approach refers to total expenditure on final consumption, total capital formation and net export of goods and services by resident units of a country in a certain period of time.It reflects the composition of GDP by its use.
Final Consumption refers to the total expenditure of resident units on final consumption of goods and services in a certain period, namely the expenditure of the resident units for purchases of goods and services from domestic economic territory and abroad to meet the requirements of material, cultural and spiritual life. It excludes the expenditure of non-resident units on consumption in the economic territory of the country. The final consumption is classified into resident consumption and government consumption.
(1)Resident consumption refers to the total expenditure of resident households on the final consumption of goods and services in a certain period of time. The expenditure of residents on final consumption of goods is recorded when the change of the ownership of goods happens. The expenditure of residents on the final consumption of services is recorded when the services are provided. The expenditure of the residents on consumption is calculated at market prices, namely the purchasers' prices which the residents pay; the purchasers' prices of goods are the prices the residents pay when they obtain the goods, including the transport and commercial expenses paided by the residents. Inaddition to the expenditure on consumption of goods and services bought by the residents directly with money, the expenditure on goods and services obtained by the residents in other ways, i.e. the so-called fictitious expenditure on consumption, is also included in the expenditure of the residents on consumption. The fictitious expenditure of the residents on consumption includes the following types:(a)the goods and services provided to the residents by the units in the form of payment in kind and transfer in kind;(b)the goods and services produced and consumed by the households themselves, in which the services refer only to the services provided by the residential buildings owned by the households;(c)the services of financial intermediary provided by the financial institutions; (d)the insurance services provided by the insurance companies.
(2)Government consumption refers to the expenditure on the consumption of the public services provided by the government to the whole society and the net expenditure on the goods and services provided by the government ot the households free charge or at lower prices. The formar equals to the output value of the government services minus the value of operating in come obtained by the government departmants. (The output value of the government services equals to its current operating expenditure plus depreciation of fixed assets). The latter equals to the market value of the goods and services provided by the government to the households minus the value received by the government from the households.
Total Capital Formation refers to the net amount of the fixed assets and stock acquired minus those disposed, including the total fixed assets formation and the increase in stock.
(1)Total fixed capital formation refer to the value of fixed assets purchased ,transferred in by the resident units and those produced and used by themselves in a certain period deducting the value of fixed assets sold and transferred out.  It can by classified into total tangible assets formation and toal intangible assets formation. The total tangible assets formation include the value of the construction projects, installation projects completed and the equipment, apparatus and instruments purchased as well as the value of land improved, the value of draught animals, breeding stock, milk, wool and recreational animals and the newly increased economic forest in a certain period. The total intangible assets formation includes the prospecting of minerals, the acquisition of computer softwares, the originals of recreational works and works of literature and arts minus the disposal of them.
(2) Increase in stock refers to the market value of the change in stock in a certain period,i. e, the difference of value between the beginning and the end of the period. The increase instock can be positive or negative. A positive value indicates the increase in stock while a negative value indicates the decrease in stock, The stock includes the raw materials, fuels and reserve materials purchased by the production units as well as the stock of finished products, semi-finished products, work-in-progress,etc.
Net Export of Goods and Services refers to the difference of the exports of goods and services minus the imports of goods and services. The imports include the value of various goods and services sold or gratuitously transferred by the resident units to the non-resident units.The imports include the value of various goods and services purchased or gratuitously acquired by the resident units from the non-resident units. Bucause the provision of services and the use of them happen simultaneously, the import and export of services by the resident units from abroad is usually treated as import while the aquicition of services by non-resident units in this country is usually treated as export. The export and import of goods are calculated atd FOB.
Labourers'Remuneration refers to the whole payment earned by the labourers from the productive activities they are engaged in. It includes wages, bonuses and allowances the labourers earned in various forms, including monetary form and form in kind. It also includes the free medical services provided to the labourers and the medicine expenses, traffic subsidies and social insurance fee paid by the labourers' working units for them. The social insurance fee paid by the labourers' working units refer to the social insurance fee paid directly by the working units to the government department (usually the department of labour) or the insurance fee paid by the enterprises and institutions for the retirement, death, and medical injury treatment of the staff and workers. As the individual economy is concerned, since the labourers' remnueration is not easily distinguished from the operating profit, both are treated as labourers' remuneration.
Net Taxes on Production refers to the differnce of the taxes on production minus the subsidies on production. The taxes on production refers to the various taxes, extra charges and fees levied on the production units on their production, sale and business activities as well as on some factors of production, such as fixed assets, land and labour force, used in the production activities they are engaged in. Specifically speaking, they include sales tax and extra charges, value added tax, various taxes paid in the administrative expenses, road toll payable, sewage charges, extra charges in water and electric power consumed, special revenue turned over to the government by the monopolized trade of tobacco and liquor, etx. Incontrast to the taxes on production, the subsidies on production is the unilateral transfer of part of the govemmen's revenue to the production units and is therefore treated as the negative taxes on production, They include subsidies on the loss due to implementation of government policies, price subsidies to the grain institutions, foreign trade corporations' receipts from drawback, etc.
Depreciation of Fixed Assets refers to the depreciation of fixed assets drawn in accordance with the stipulated depreciation rate for the purpose of compensating the wear loss of the fixed assets or the depreciation of fixed assets calculated in a fictitious way in accordace with the stipulated unified depreciation rate in the national economic accounting system.It reflects the value of transfer of the fixed assets in the production of the current period. The depreciation of fixed assets in various enterprises and institutions managed as enterprises refers to the depreciation expenses actually drawn and calculated as part of the cost. In the units which do not draw the depreciation expenses, such as government agencies, institutionsnot managed as enterprises as well as the houses of residets, the depreciation of fixed assets is the fictitious depreciation, which is calulated in accordance with the stipulated unified depreciation rate. In principle, the depreciation of fixed assets should be calculated on the basis of the re-purchased value of the fixed assets. However, there is no actual condition to re-evaluete all the fixed assets in China. Therefore, the above-mentioned methods are temporarily adopted at present.
Operating Surplusz refers to the balance of the value added created by the resident units deducting the labourers' remuneration, net taxes on production ant the depreciation of fixed assets. It is equivalent to the business profit of the enterprises plus subsidies on production, but the wages and welfare expenses paid from the profits and the public welfare fund drawn from the post-tax profits should be deducted.
Government Revenue refers to the revenue of the government finance by means of participating in the distribution of the social products, which is the financial resources for ensuring the government to function. The contents of government revenue have been changed several times. Now it includes the following main items:
(1) Various tax revenues, including value added tax, business tax. consumption tax, land value added tax, tax on city maintenance and construction, resources tax, tax on use of urban land, stamp tax, tax on adjustment of the orientation of investment in fixed assets, personal income tax,enterprise income tax. tariff, tax on agriculture and animal husbandry and tax on occupancy of cultivated land, etc.
(2) Special revenues, including revenue collected from imposing fce on sewage treatment, revenue collected from imposing fee on urban water resources, and extra-charges for education, etc.
(3) Other revenues, including revenue from the repayment of capital construction loan, the funds for the state key construction projects in energy industry and transportation, and the funds for state budget adjustment, etc.
(4) Planned subsidies for the losses of the state-owned enterprises. This is an item of negative revenue, ued to eat up part of the government revenue.
Government Expenditure refere to the distribution and use of the funds the government finance has raised, so as to meet the needs of economic construction and various causes. It includes the following main items:
(1) Expenditure for capital construction: It refers to the non - gratuitous use and appropriation of funds for capital construction in the range of capital construction, outlay of capital as well as the loans on capital construction approved by the government for special purpose or policy purpose and the expenditure with discount paid in an overall way within the amount of the funds appropriated to the departments for capital construction.
(2) Innovation funds of the enterprises: They refer to the funds appropriated from the government budget for the enterprises to tap the latent power, upgrade the technology and carry out innovation, including the innovation fund of the departments, loan of the enterprises for innovation, subsidies on the innovation of the small fertilizer plant, small cement plant, small coal mines, small machinery plant and small steel plant, the expenditure of interest for the loan for innovation .
(3)Geological prospecting expenses: They refer to the expenses appropriated from the government budget to the geological prospecting units for the expenditure of the prospecting work, including the expenditures of the administrative agencies for geological prospecting and their institutional units as well as the geological prospecting expenditure.
(4) expenditures for science and technology promotion: They refer to the expenses appropriated from the government budget for the scientific and technological expenditure, including new products development expenditure, expenditure for intermediate trial and subsidies on important scientific researches.
(5) Expenditure for supporting rural production: It refers to the expenditures appropriated from the government budget for supporting the various expenditures of the rural collective units or households for production,including the subsidies to the small water conservancy projects and well drilling, sprinkling irrigation projects run by the villages; subsidies on the rural water azid soil conserving measures; subsidies to the small power stations run by the villages; subsidies to the expenditure for fighting against particularly severe draughts; subsidies on the rural waste land exclamation; fund for supporting the township enterprises; subsidies to the expenditure for popularization of the agricultural technologies and plant protection in the rural areas; subsidies to the expenditure for the protection of grasslands and cattle and fowls; subsidies on afforestation and forest protection in rural areas; subsidies on the rural aquatic products industry; special fund for developing grain production.
(6)Operating expenses of the departments of farming, forestry, water conservancy and meteorology etc.: They refer to the expenses appropriated from the government budget for the expenditures of agricultural exclamation, farms, a griculture, animal husbandry, agricultural machinery, forestry, timber industry, water conservancy, aquatic products industry, meteorology, technology popularization in township enterprises, popularization (demonstration) of improved varieties, plant (cattle and fowls, forest) protection, water quality monitoring, prospecting and designing, resources investigation, cadres training, subsidies to horticulture gardens, expenditure of specialized secondary schools, subsidies on the experiments of sowing herbage seeds by flights, expenditures of afforestation agencies and meteorology agencies, expenses for fishery administration and operating expenses for agricultural adminstration, etc.
(7) Operating expenses of the departments of industry, transport and commerce:They refer to the expenses appropriated from the government budget to the departments of industry, transport and commerce for the expenditure of business development, including expenses for prospecting and designing, expenditures of specialized secondary schools, expenditures of the technical training schools and expenditures for cadres training, etc.
(8)Operating expenses of the departments of culture, education, science and public health: They refer to the expenses appropriated from the government budget for the expenditures of the causes of culture, publication,cultural relics, education, public health, traditional Chinese medical science, free medical services, sports, archives, earthquake, ocean, communications, broadcasting, film and television, family planning; expenditure for training of cadres of government, party and mass organization; expenditures for natural sciences, social sciences, associations for science and technology and the special expenditure for the high-tech researches. They include mainly wages, extra wages, welfare funds, pension for the retirees, stipend, expenses for official business, expenses for equipment purchases,expenses for repairs, business expenses and subsidies to the units which are unable to support their expenditures by their own earnings.
(9)Pension for the disabled or for the families of the bereaved and relief funds for social welfare: They refer to the funds appropriated from the government budget for the expenditures of pension for the disabled or for the families of the bereaved and relief funds for social welfare, including the lump-sum or regular pension paid by the departments of civil affairs to the members of martyrs' families and families of those who died for the public interest, pension to the revolutionary disabled, subsidies for permanent disability of various kinds, subsidies to the military martyrs' dependents and the demobilized armymen, expenditure for settling dowm the demobilized armymen, operating expenses of the consoling institutions, expenses for management and repair of the commemorative buildings for the martyrs, the expenses managed by the departments of civil affairs for the retirees and those who have quitted their work, expenses for social relief in rural and urban areas, operating expenses for providing relief to the areas of natural calamity and subsidies on the reconstrution after the particularly severe natural calamities, etc.
(10)Expenditures for national defence: They refer to the funds appropriated from the government budget for the expenditure for building up national defence and safeguarding national security, including expenses of national defence, expenses of sientific researches on national defence, expenses for building up people's militia and expenditure for special projects, etc.
(11) Administrative expenses: They include expenditure for administration, subsidies to the parties and mass organizations, diplomatic expenditure, expenditure for public security, judicial expenditure, law court expenditure, procuratorial expeniture and subsidies to the expenses for treating the cases by the public security departments, procuratorial organs and law courts.
(12)Expenditure for price subsidies: It refers to the expenditure appropriated, with the approval of the government, form the government budget for the policy subsidies to price adjustment, including the fund for the increase of grain prices, the subsidies to the difference between the selling prices and purchasing prices of grains, cotton and edible oil, awards in addition to the purchasing prices of cotton, risk fund for non-staple food, subsidies on the prices of meat and meat products, subsidies on the price differece for curbing the high market prices of meat, meat prodducts and vegetables and the subsidies approved by the government on the prices of textbooks and newsprint of newspapers and periodicals.
Revenue of the Central Government and Revenue of the Local Governments: In accordance with the classification of the structure of the government finance in 1994 on the basis of the classification of channels for collection of tax revenues, the revenue of the central government and the revnue of the local governments have different coverage. The revenue of the central government includes tariff, consumption tax and value added tax levied by the customs, consumption tax, income tax of the enterprises suborddinate to the central government, income taxes of the local banks, foreign-funded banks and non-band financial institutions, business tax, income tax and profits of railways, head offices of banks, head office of insurance company, which are handed over to the government in a centralized way, tax on city maintenance and construction, 75% of the value added tax ,tax on ocean petroleunm resources, 50% of the tax on stock dealing (stamp tax). The revenue of the local governments includes business tax, income tax of the enterprises subordinated to the local government, personal income tax, tax on the use of urban land, tax on the adjustment of the investment in fixed assets. tax on town maintenance and construction, tax on real estates, tax on the use of vehicles and ships, stamp tax, slaughter tax, tax on agriculture and animal husbandry, tax on special agricultural products, tax on the occupancy of cultivated land, contract tax, 25% of the value added tax, 50% of the tax on stock dealing (stamp tax) and tax on resources other than the ocean petroleum resources.
Expenditure of the Central Government and Expenditure of he Local Governments:According to the different functions of the central government and local governments in the economic and social activities, the rights of affairs administration are classified between the central government and local governments; and the classification of the expenditure between the central government and local governments are made on the basis of the classification of the rights of affairs administration between them. The expenditure of the central government includes the expenditure for national defence, expenditure for armed police forces, the administrative expenses and various operating expenses at the level of central government,expenditure for key projects and the expenditure of the central government for adjusting the national economic structure, coordinating the development among different regions and exercising the macro-economic regulation and control. The expenditure of the local governments includes mainly the administrative expenses and various operating expenses at the level of local governments, the expenditure for capital construction and technological innovation with the funds raised by the local government, expenditure for supporting rural production, expenditure for city maintenance and construction and expenditure for price subsidies, etc.
Extra-Budgetary Revenue and Expenditure Extra-budgetary fund is the government financial fund obtained by the units concerned by government power or the power authorized by the government and not included in the government budget. The extra-budgetary revenue includes revenue from various extra-charges, revenue from undertakings and special revenue etc. ,fund for special purpose in the institutional and administrative units, net income from profit-making services, administrative charges and business charges, special fund, income from the part-work and part-study program in secondary and primary schools, and income from deducting a certain percentage from the tax revenue, etc. The extra-budgetary expenditure includes the expenditure for the investment in fixed assets, expenditure for city maintenance, expenditure for welfare and for encouragement and awards, and administrative and business expenditure, etc.