People's Republic of China

The state still dominates in strategic "pillar" industries (such as energy and heavy industries), but private enterprise (30 million private businesses)now accounts for anywhere between 33% (People's Daily Online 2005) to 70% (BusinessWeek, 2005) of GDP in 2005, while the OECD estimate is over 50% of China's national output, up from 1% in 1978.Its stock market in Shanghai (SSE) is raising record amounts of IPOs and its benchmark Shanghai Composite index has doubled since 2005. SSE's market capitalization reached US$3 trillion in 2007 and is the world's fifth largest exchange.

China now ranks 34th in the Global Competitiveness Index. Thirty-seven Chinese companies made the list in the 2009 Fortune Global 500 (Beijing alone with 26).

Measured on market capitalization, 4 out of 10 of the world's most valuable companies are in China including #1-ranked PetroChina (world's most valuable oil company), #3-ranked Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (world's most valuable bank), and #5-ranked China Mobile (world's most valuable telecommunications company) and #7-ranked China Construction Bank.

Although still poor by the world's standard, the PRC's rapid growth managed to pull hundreds of millions of its people out of poverty since 1978. Today, about 10% of the Chinese population (down from 64% in 1978) live below the poverty line of US$1 per day (PPP) while life expectancy has dramatically increased to 73 years. More than 90% of the population is literate, compared to 20% in 1950.

Urban unemployment declined to 4 percent in China by the end of 2007 (true overall unemployment might be higher at around 10%).Its middle class population (defined as those with annual income of at least US$5,000) has now reached 80-150 million. China's retail market is worth RMB8921 billion (US$1302 billion) in 2007 and growing at 16.8% annually. It is also now the world's third biggest consumer of luxury goods with 12% of the global share.

The PRC's growth has been uneven when comparing different geographic regions and rural and urban areas. The urban-rural income gap is getting wider in the PRC with a Gini coefficient of 46.9%. Development has also been mainly concentrated in the eastern coastal regions while the remainder of the country are left behind.

To counter this, the government has promoted development in the western, northeastern, and central regions of China. The economy is also highly energy-intensive and inefficient – it uses 20%-100% more energy than OECD countries for many industrial processes. It has now become the world's second largest energy consumer behind the US but relies on coal to supply about 70% of its energy needs.

Coupled with a lax environmental regulation, this has led to a massive water and air pollution (China has 20 of the world's 30 most polluted cities). Consequently, the government has promised to use more renewable energy with a target of 10% of total energy use by 2010 and 30% by 2050.