After the National Bureau of Statistics released its economic data of 2014, local authorities also began to release their economic data. In 2014, the per capita GDP of Guangdong province and Fujian province broke through 10,000 USD. To date, 8 provinces, municipalities, or autonomous regions have entered the "per capita GDP 10,000 dollar club".

China is attaching less importance to GDP, so how should we view this indicator?

8 provinces represent a quarter of China's provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions. Since, Shanghai first crossed the threshold in 2008, 7 years have passed. Now among the 8 "club members", only Inner Mongolia is not an economically developed coastal area.

In the field of statistics, a per capita GDP of 10,000 dollars represents an important dividing line. Generally speaking, it means that the economic and social development of a country or a region has reached the standard of moderately developed countries. In 2013, 65 countries and regions reached this level.

According to Fan Jianping, chief economist of the State Information Center, in terms of total GDP China is the world's second biggest economy. However, the per capita GDP of China falls behind the 80th. So China is still a developing country with some relatively developed regions.

In fact, when reaching the per capita GDP 10,000 dollars level, most countries and regions have achieved an optimized economy and balanced society. In countries such as Japan and South Korea, industrial upgrading, income distribution, social security, public services and other important indicators had all reached a relatively high level when their per capita GDP crossed the 10,000 dollar threshold.

In this sense, China's membership of the club still has a long way to go. For example, Guangdong province has a relatively high development level, but its internal development is imbalanced. The Pearl River Delta area of Guangdong reached the 10,000 dollars threshold as early as 2010, but in 2014 the per capita GDP of east and northwest Guangdong had not even reached the national average level. At the same time, in many areas, personal incomes were not rising with per capita GDP. For example, the per capita GDP of Tianjin is higher than Beijing, but the per capita disposable income of Tianjin citizens is lower than that of Beijing citizens.

Statistics show that in developed countries, personal incomes usually represent 55 percent of per capita GDP, while in many areas of China, the figure is lower than 40 percent. In 2014, the personal income of residents of Guangdong province represented 40 percent of the per capita GDP, while the figure was even lower in Fujian, at only 37 percent. Currently, China's economic growth is mainly driven by investment, not consumption and innovation, so people are not fully benefiting from economic development.

Fan Jianping said that such contradictions show us that GDP cannot explain all economic phenomena and is not necessarily related to social welfare and the balance of income distribution. A high per capita GDP in some developed areas cannot cover up the imbalance of social and economic development in China. So China's economic structural adjustment, industrial structure transformation, and social equality still leave much room for improvement. 

The article is edited and translated from《1/4省份 迈入“1万美元俱乐部”》, source: People's Daily Overseas Edition, author:Shen Mengzhe.