Table 12: Freight Traffic by All Means of Transportation and the Growth Rates in 2008

 

Item	Unit	Volume	Increase over 2007 (%)
Total freight traffic	100 million tons	249.0	9.4
Railways	100 million tons	33.1	4.7
Highways	100 million tons	181.7	10.9
Waterways	100 million tons	29.7	5.7
Civil aviation	10 000 tons	407.6	1.4
Pipelines	100 million tons	4.5	15.4
Freight flows	100 million ton-kilometers	105512.9	3.8
Railways	100 million ton-kilometers	25111.8	3.7
Highways	100 million ton-kilometers	12998.5	14.5
Waterways	100 million ton-kilometers	65218.2	1.5
Civil aviation	100 million ton-kilometers	119.6	2.8
Pipelines	100 million ton-kilometers	2064.7	19.5

Table 13: Passenger Traffic by All Means of Transportation and the Growth Rates in 2008

 

Item	Unit	Volume	Increase over 2007 (%)
Total passenger traffic	100 million persons	239.7	7.8
Railways	100 million persons	14.6	11.0
Highways	100 million persons	220.7	7.6
Waterways	100 million persons	2.4	6.0
Civil aviation	10 000 persons	1.9	3.6
Passenger flows	100 million person-kilometers	23372.2	8.2
Railways	100 million person-kilometers	7778.6	7.8
Highways	100 million person-kilometers	12636.0	9.8
Waterways	100 million person-kilometers	74.8	-3.8
Civil aviation	100 million person-kilometers	2882.8	3.3

The volume of freight handled by ports above the designated size throughout the year totaled 5.87 billion tons, up 11.5 percent over the previous year, of which freight for foreign trade was 1.92 billion tons, up 7.0 percent. Container shipping handled 128.35 million standard containers, up by 12.2 percent.

The total number of motor vehicles for civilian use reached 64.67 million (including 14.92 million tri-wheel motor vehicles and low-speed trucks) by the end of 2008, up 13.5 percent, of which private-owned vehicles numbered 41.73 million, up 18.1 percent. The total number of cars for civilian use stood at 24.38 million, up by 24.5 percent, of which private-owned cars numbered 19.47 million, up by 28.0 percent.

The turnover of post and telecommunication services totaled 2,384.1 billion yuan, up 20.7 percent over the previous year. Of this total, post services accounted for 140.2 billion yuan, up 15.5 percent, and telecommunication services 2,244.0 billion yuan, up 21.0 percent. By the end of 2008, with a decrease of 1.56 million lines of office switchboards, the total capacity reached 510 million lines. The year also saw 340.81 million fixed telephone subscribers. This included 232.00 million urban subscribers and 108.81 million rural subscribers. Mobile phone users numbered 641.23 million by the end of 2008, with 93.92 million new subscribers in the year. In total, the number of fixed and mobile phone users reached 982.04 million, an increase of 69.09 million as compared with that at the end of 2007. Phone coverage is 74.3 sets per 100 persons. The number of Internet users was 300 million and wide-band users reached 270 million. 

In 2008, the number of inbound visitors to China totaled 130.03 million, a year-on-year decline of 1.4 percent. Of this total, 24.33 million were foreigners, down 6.8 percent; and 105.70 million were Chinese compatriots from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, down 0.1 percent. Of all the inbound tourists, overnight visitors counted 53.05 million, down 3.1 percent. Foreign exchange earnings from international tourism topped 40.8 billion US dollars, down 2.6 percent. The number of China’s outbound visitors totaled 45.84 million, up 11.9 percent. Of this total, 40.13 million were on private visits, a year-on-year rise of 14.9 percent, or 87.5 percent of all outgoing visitors. The year 2008 saw 1.71 billion domestic tourists, up 6.3 percent. The revenue from domestic tourism totaled 874.9 billion yuan, up 12.6 percent.

VIII. Financial Intermediation

By the end of 2008, money supply of broad sense (M₂) was 47.5 trillion yuan, reflecting a year-on-year increase of 17.8 percent. Money supply of narrow sense (M₁) was 16.6 trillion yuan, up 9.1 percent. Cash in circulation (M₀) was 3.4 trillion yuan, up 12.7 percent.  Savings deposit in Renminbi and foreign currencies in all items of financial institutions totaled 47.8 trillion yuan at the end of 2008, up 19.3 percent. Loans in Renminbi and foreign currencies in all items of financial institutions reached 32.0 trillion yuan, up 17.9 percent.

The amount of expenditures on research and development activities (R&D) was worth 457.0 billion yuan in 2008, up 23.2 percent over 2007, accounting for 1.52 percent of GDP. Of this total, 20.0 billion yuan was appropriated for fundamental research programs. A total number of 922 projects under the National Key Technology Research and Development Program and 1,205 projects under the Hi-tech Research and Development Program (the 863 Program) were implemented. The year 2008 saw the establishment of 7 new national engineering research centers and 51 national engineering laboratories. The number of state validated enterprise technical centers reached 575 by the end of the year. The technical centers at the provincial level numbered 4,886. Some 828 thousand patent applications were accepted from home and abroad, of which 717 thousand were domestic applications, accounting for 86.6 percent of the total. A total number of 290 thousand patent applications for new inventions were accepted, of which 195 thousand were from domestic applicants or 67.1 percent of the total. A total of 412 thousand patents were authorized in 2008, of which 352 thousand were domestic patents, accounting for 85.5 percent of the total. A total of 94 thousand patents for new inventions were authorized, of which 47 thousand were domestic ones, accounting for 49.7 percent. Till the end of year 2008, the number of patents in force was 1.195 million, of which 925 thousand patents were domestic ones, accounting for 77.4 percent; the number of patents in force for inventions was 337 thousand, of which 128 thousand was domestic ones, accounting for 37.9 percent. A total of 226 thousand technology transfer contracts were signed, representing 266.5 billion yuan in value, up 19.7 percent over the previous year. The year 2008 saw 11 times of successful launch of satellites and Shenzhou-7 manned spacecraft was launched successfully. 

By the end of 2008, there were altogether 24,300 laboratories for product inspection, including 376 national inspection centers. There were 170 organizations for product certification and management system certification, which accumulatively certified products in 38 thousand enterprises. A total of 3,701 authorized measurement institutions enforced compulsory inspection on 41.90 million measurement instruments in the year. A total of 6,373 national standards were developed or revised in the year, including 2,714 new standards. There were 1,314 seismological monitor stations and 31 seismological remote monitor network stations. The numbers of oceanic observation stations were 67 and oceanic monitor spots reached 9,200. Mapping departments published 1,834 maps and 309 mapping books.

X. Culture, Public Health and Sports

At the end of 2008, there were 2,575 art-performing groups, 3,171 culture centers, 2,825 public libraries, 1,798 museums, 257 radio broadcasting stations, 277 television stations, 2,069 radio broadcasting and television stations and 45 educational television stations throughout China. Subscribers to cable television programs numbered 163.42 million. Subscribers to digital cable television programs were 45.03 million. Radio broadcasting and television broadcasting coverage rates were 96.0 percent and 97.0 percent respectively. The country produced 406 feature movies and 73 science, educational, documentary, cartoon and special movies. A total of 44.5 billion copies of newspapers and 3.0 billion copies of magazines were issued, and 6.9 billion copies of books published. By the end of the year, there were 3,987 archives in China and 72.67 million documents were made accessible to the public.

By the end of 2008, there were 300 thousand health institutions in China, including 60 thousand general hospitals and health centers, 28 thousand community health service centers, 3,020 maternal and child health-care institutions, 1,344 specialized health institutions, 3,560 epidemic disease prevention centers (stations) and 2,591 health monitoring institutions. There were 4.92 million health workers in China, including 2.05 million practicing doctors and assistant practicing doctors and 1.62 million registered nurses. General hospitals and health centers in China possessed 3.69 million beds. The number of rural health care centers was 39 thousand, possessing 820 thousand beds and employing 874 thousand health care workers. In 2008, 3.541 million people were infected by A or B class infectious diseases, with 12,433 reported deaths. The incidence of infectious disease was 268.01 per 100 thousand, with the death rate standing at 0.94 per 100 thousand.

In 2008, Chinese athletes won 120 world championships on 24 sports events. Eleven athletes and 2 teams broke 16 world records on 16 occasions. On the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, China won 51 gold medals, 21 silver medals and 28 bronze medals, totaled 100 medals, topping the gold medal tally and winning the second in the overall medal table. On Beijing Para Olympic Games, China’s athletes won 89 gold medals, 70 silver medals and 52 bronze medals, topping again both the gold medal tally and overall medal standings. The amateur sports activities were carried out vigorously.

XI. Population, Living Conditions and Social Security

At the end of 2008, the total number of Chinese population reached 1,328.02 million, an increase of 6.73 million over that at the end of 2007. The year 2008 saw 16.08 million births, a crude birth rate of 12.14 per thousand, and 9.35 million deaths, or a crude death rate of 7.06 per thousand. The natural growth rate was 5.08 per thousand. The sex ratio at birth was 120.56.

In 2008, the annual per capita net income of rural households was 4,761 yuan, or a real increase of 8.0 percent over the previous year when the factors of price increase were deducted. The annual per capita disposable income of urban households was 15,781 yuan, or a real increase of 8.4 percent. The proportion of expenditure on food to the total expenditure of households was 43.7 percent for rural households and 37.9 percent for urban households. According to the 2008 rural poverty line with annual per capita net income below 1,196 yuan, the population in poverty in rural areas numbered 40.07 million at the end of the year.

At the end of 2008, a total of 218.90 million people participated in basic pension program, a year-on-year increase of 17.53 million. Of this total, 165.97 million were staff and workers, and 52.93 million were retirees. A total of 316.98 million people participated in urban basic health insurance program, an increase of 93.87 million, of whom 200.48 million people participated in urban basic health insurance program for staff and workers, 116.50 million people participated in programs for residents. A total of 42.49 million people participated in urban health insurance programs were migrant workers coming from the rural areas, an increase of 11.18 million. Some 124.00 million people participated in unemployment insurance programs, an increase of 7.55 million. A total of 138.10 million people participated in work accident insurance, an increase of 16.37 million, of which 49.76 million were migrant workers coming from the rural areas, an increase of 9.96 million. A total of 91.81 million people participated in maternity insurance programs, an increase of 14.06 million. A total of 2,729 counties (cities, districts) conducted the new cooperative medical care system in rural areas, with a participation rate of 91.5 percent. The total expenditure of the new cooperative medical care system in rural areas reached 42.9 billion yuan, benefiting 370 million people. In 2008, the urban medical assistance helped 5.13 million people, up by 16.0 percent. The rural medical assistance helped 9.36 million people, up by 148.0 percent. A total of 27.80 million people were funded by the civil affairs departments in the rural cooperative medical care system.

The number of people receiving unemployment insurance payment stood at 2.61 million. A total of 23.34 million urban residents received the government minimum living allowances, or 620 thousand more than the previous year. About 42.91 million rural residents received the government minimum living allowance, an increase of 7.25 million.

Social welfare institutions of various types provided 2.35 million beds by the end of 2008, accommodating 1.89 million inmates. There were 109 thousand community service facilities and 9,871 comprehensive community service centers were set up in urban areas. A total of 60.4 billion yuan worth of social welfare lottery tickets were sold, raising 21.1 billion yuan of social welfare funds. A total of 48.2 billion yuan were received from direct donations.

XII. Resources, Environment and Work Safety

A total of 191.6 thousand hectares of cultivated land was used for construction purpose in 2008. An area of 24.8 thousand hectares of cultivated land was destroyed by disasters, 7.6 thousand hectares of farmland was converted into land for ecological preservation. The structural adjustment to agriculture led to a reduction of 24.9 thousand hectares of cultivated land. Land reclamation and re-development programs added 229.6 thousand hectares of cultivated land. As a result, the year 2008 witnessed a net reduction of 19.3 thousand hectares of cultivated land.

The total stock of water resources in 2008 was 2,712.7 billion cubic meters, a year-on-year increase of 7.4 percent, or 2,048 cubic meters in per capita terms, up by 6.9 percent. The annual average precipitation was 659 millimeters, up by 8.0 percent. Large reservoirs in China stored 196.2 billion cubic meters of water at the end of 2008, 9.3 billion cubic meters more than that at the end of 2007. Total water consumption went up by 0.4 percent to reach 584.0 billion cubic meters, of which water consumption for living purposes rose by 0.6 percent, for industrial use up by 1.8 percent, for agricultural use down by 0.2 percent, and for ecological water supplement down by 0.7 percent. Water consumption for every 10 thousand yuan worth of GDP produced was 231.8 cubic meters, a decline of 7.9 percent. Water consumption for every 10 thousand yuan worth of industrial value added was 130.3 cubic meters, down by 7.0 percent. Per capita water consumption was 440.9 cubic meters, down by 0.1 percent.

National land surveys and geological explorations discovered a total of 209 new mineral deposits in large or medium size, including 38 energy mineral deposits, 90 metallic mineral deposits, 79 non-metallic mineral deposits and 2 aqueous and gaseous deposits. Increased reserves were found for 57 minerals, including 1.34 billion tons of crude oil, 647.2 billion cubic meters of natural gas and 23.11 billion tons of coal.

A total of 4.77 million hectares of forest were planted, of which 3.29 million were afforested by manpower. Some 3.12 million hectares were afforested through key afforestation projects, accounting for 65.4 percent of the total planted area of the year. About 2.31 billion trees were planted in 2008 by volunteers. By the end of 2008, there were 2,538 natural reserves including 303 national ones. A total of 47 thousand square kilometers of eroded land were put under comprehensive treatment programs, and 26 thousand square kilometers of land were closed for nurture and protection in areas suffering water and soil erosion.

Preliminary estimation indicated that the total energy consumption in 2008 amounted to 2.85 billion tons of standard coal equivalent, up 4.0 percent over 2007. The consumption of coal was 2.74 billion tons, up 3.0 percent; crude oil 360 million tons, up 5.1 percent; natural gas 80.7 billion cubic meters, up 10.1 percent; and electric power 3,450.2 billion kilowatt hours, up 5.6 percent. The national energy consumption per 10,000 yuan went down by 4.59 percent. The consumption of major kinds of raw materials included 540 million tons of rolled steel, up 4.2 percent; 5.38 million tons of copper, up by 6.9 percent; 12.60 million tons of electrolytic aluminum, up by 4.3 percent; 9.98 million tons of ethylene, down by 2.9 percent; and 1.37 billion tons of cement, up 3.5 percent.

Monitoring of water quality on 409 sections of the 7 major water systems in China showed that 55.0 percent of the sections met the national quality standard from Grade I to Grade III for surface water, up by 5.1 percentage points; and 20.8 percent were worse than Grade V, down by 2.8 percentage points compared with that in the previous year. Generally, the water quality in the 7 major water systems continued to improve with some river basins still having serious pollution.

Monitoring of oceanic water quality at 301 offshore monitoring stations indicated that oceanic water met the national quality standard Grade I and II in 70.4 percent of the stations, up by 7.6 percentage points from the previous year; water quality at 11.3 percent of the stations met Grade III standard, down by 0.5 percentage points; and water of Grade IV or inferior quality was found at 18.3 percent of the stations, down by 7.0 percentage points. A total of 137 thousand square kilometers of oceanic waters did not meet the quality standard for clean oceanic water, a decrease of 8 thousand square kilometers. Of this total, seriously polluted oceanic area occupied 25 thousand square kilometers. Seriously polluted oceanic area in Bohai Sea occupied 3 thousand square kilometers.

In the 519 cities covered by air quality monitoring program, 399 cities reached or topped air quality standard Grade II, accounting for 76.9 percent of all cities under the program; 113 cities attained Grade III, accounting for 21.8 percent; and air quality in 7 cities was inferior to Grade III, accounting for 1.3 percent. Of the 392 cities subject to noise monitoring program, 7.9 percent enjoyed fairly good environment, 63.8 percent had good environment, 27.0 percent had light noise pollution, and 1.3 percent experienced medium noise pollution in downtown areas.

The average temperature in 2008 was 9.6℃, which was 0.5℃ lower than that in previous year. Typhoon hit China 10 times in 2008, 2 more compared with that in 2007. 

At the end of 2008, the daily treatment capacity of city sewage reached 82.95 million cubic meters, up 16.1 percent over that in 2007. City sewage treatment rate was 65.3 percent, up 2.4 percentage points. The floor space with central heating systems amounted to 3.21 billion square meters, up 6.6 percent. Greenery coverage reached 31.6 percent of the urban area, up 0.3 percentage point.

In 2008, natural disasters caused 1,175.2 billion yuan worth of direct economic loss, 4.0 times more than that in previous year. Natural disasters hit 39.99 million hectares of crops, down 18.4 percent, of which 4.03 million hectares of crops was demolished, down 29.8 percent. The year 2008 witnessed 13 thousand forest fires, up by 45.2 percent. Floods and waterlog caused a direct economic loss of 63.5 billion yuan, down by 23.1 percent and left a death roll of 686, down by 41.3 percent. Drought caused a direct economic loss of 30.7 billion yuan, down by 60.9 percent. Oceanic disasters caused a direct economic loss of 20.6 billion yuan, increased by 1.3 times. The occurrence of red tides hit an accumulative area of 13,738 square kilometers, up by 18.3 percent. Disasters from low temperature, frost and snow made a total direct economic loss of 159.5 billion yuan with a death roll of 162. China registered 27 thousand geological disasters which left a death doll of 656 and made a total direct economic loss of 18.37 billion yuan. The country recorded 87 earthquakes with magnitude 5 and over, 17 of which caused disasters, causing a direct economic loss of 852.3 billion yuan and leaving a death roll of 70 thousand. Of this total, Sichuan Wenchuan Earthquake recorded 8.0-magnitude, causing a direct economic loss of 845.1 billion yuan.

The death toll due to work accidents amounted to 91,172 people, a year-on-year decrease of 10.2 percent. The death toll from work accidents every 100 million yuan worth of GDP was 0.312 people, a decline of 24.5 percent. Work accidents in industrial, mining and commercial enterprises caused 2.82 deaths out of every 100 thousand employees, down 7.5 percent. The death toll for producing one million tons of coal in coalmines was 1.182 persons, down 20.4 percent. The year 2008 witnessed 265 thousand traffic accidents, claiming 73 thousand lives, injuring 305 thousand people and causing a direct property loss of 1.01 billion yuan. The road traffic death toll per 10 thousand vehicles was 4.3 persons, a decrease of 0.8 person.

Notes:

1.        All figures in this Communiqué are preliminary statistics.

2.        Statistics in this Communiqué do not include Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR and Taiwan Province.

3.        Due to the rounding-off reasons, the subentries may not add up to the aggregate totals.

4.        Gross domestic product (GDP) and value added as quoted in this Communiqué are calculated at current prices, whereas their growth rates are at constant prices.

5.        Six highly energy-consuming industries are: manufacture of raw chemical materials and chemical products, manufacture of non-metallic mineral products, smelting and pressing of ferrous metals, smelting and pressing of non-ferrous metals, oil processing, coking and nuclear fuel processing, and production and supply of electricity and heat.

6.        Output and consumption of rolled steel include duplicated counting of rolled steel as intermediate inputs used for producing other types of rolled steel.

7.        The national total of fixed assets investment is larger than the aggregate sum by adding up the subtotals of fixed assets investment in the eastern areas, central areas, and western areas due to the fact that some of the trans-regional investments are not covered by regional figures.

8.        The investment in real estate includes the investment made in real estate development, construction of buildings for own use, property management, intermediary services and other real estate development.

9.        The original premium income received by the insurance companies refers to the premium income from original insurance contracts confirmed by the insurance companies.

10.   The number of people covered in urban basic health insurance programs for urban staff and workers include staff and workers and retirees insured. The urban basic health insurance programs for urban residents refer to urban non-employed residents who are not covered by the urban basic health insurance programs for staff and workers.

11.   Statistics on poverty population in rural areas are based on the newly revised rural poverty line, which is incomparable with historical data.

12.   The consumption of water for producing 10 thousand yuan worth of GDP is calculated at 2005 constant prices. The turnover of post and telecommunication services is calculated at constant prices of 2000.