City Clusters Drive Economic Growth

Across China’svast territory，thousands of citieshave emerged likesparkling stars and maturedinto clusters. Within theclusters， various cultures haveintegrated with the boomof populations， fosteringnew engines for economicdevelopment and sources ofprosperity. China boasts themost large cities and biggesturban population in the world.Growing city clusters areaccumulating new strength foreconomic development.

By the end of 2023， China’spermanent urban populationhad reached around 933million， with an urbanizationrate of more than 66 percent.Currently， China is home to10 megacities， each with apermanent urban populationexceeding 10 million.According to the World Bank，the percentage of China’surban agglomerations witha population of over onemillion has continued torise， and the population ofpeople gathered in theseagglomerations ranks first inthe world.

City clusters representaccumulating population andconvergence of economicpower. Statistics show thatcities contribute over 80percent of the global GDP.For example， the YangtzeRiver Delta region generatesnearly a quarter of China’stotal economic output withless than four percent of thecountry’s land area. Accordingto research on Chinese cities，with other factors unchanged，an increase of one percentagepoint in population densitycorresponds to a 0.82 percentgrowth in GDP at constantprices.

With the rise of cityclusters， the innovationcapabilities of Chinesecities have also significantlyimproved. According tothe Global InnovationHubs Index released bythe authoritative academicjournal Nature in December2023， Beijing ranked third，while the Guangdong-HongKong-Macao Greater BayArea surpassed the Tokyo BayArea for the first time to ranksixth on the list.

The rise of city clustershas injected new vitalityinto China’s economicdevelopment and providednew impetus for globalgrowth. According toestimates， every onepercentage point increasein China’s urbanizationrate generates an additionalinvestment demand of up to6.6 trillion yuan （US$908billion）， bringing newopportunities for enterprisesand economic developmentin various countries. Atthe same time， if rural-tourbanmigrants and urbanresidents can enjoy equalaccess to public services，China’s consumer demand willalso embrace great growthpotential.