Xi'an, capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi province, is understood to be doing well with its economy, despite the effects of the novel coronavirus, as well as with its environment.
The municipal government last year coordinated its COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control measures and its economic and social development – with its innovation vitality reportedly accelerating, people's livelihoods guaranteed and high-quality development promoted.
GDP growth continues
The city's GDP in 2021 totaled 1.07 trillion yuan ($168.12 billion) in 2021, a year-on-year increase of 4.1 percent.
The primary, secondary and tertiary industries saw respective year-on-year increases of 6.1 percent, 0.9 percent and 5.7 percent – to 30.88 billion yuan, 358.52 billion yuan and 679.43 billion yuan.
Grain output up
The annual grain planting area in the city was 3.86 million mu (257,333 hectares), down 2 percent from the previous year.
However, annual grain output saw growth of 1.3 percent over the previous year to 1.42 million metric tons.
Industries
The added value of industries in the city above a designated size increased by 5.7 percent over the previous year.
The total output value of strategic emerging industries increased by 27.6 percent, accounting for 49.9 percent of that of industries above a designated size.
Service industry steady
The added value of wholesale and retail trade came in at 83.76 billion yuan, down 1.4 percent year-on-year.
However, the added value of the accommodation and catering sector rose by 4.8 percent to 15.35 billion yuan.
Domestic trade moves higher
The city's total retail sales of consumer goods amounted to 496.34 billion yuan, an increase of 0.8 percent, including 65.29 billion yuan of online retail sales.
International trade surges
The city saw the value of its foreign trade surge 26.5 percent year-on-year to 440 billion yuan in 2021. Exports amounted to 236.19 billion yuan and imports totaled 203.8 billion yuan, with respective year-on-year increases of 33 percent and 19.8 percent.
In addition, the city's actual use of foreign capital in 2021 totaled $8.71 billion, up 13.5 percent on the previous year.
Finances robust
The city's general public budget revenue for the year was about 85.6 billion yuan, of which tax revenue amounted to 68.24 billion yuan, an increase of 19.4 percent.
People's livelihoods healthy
The per capita disposable income of residents in the city last year was 38,701 yuan, for year-on-year growth of 8.2 percent. Breaking that down, the per capita disposable income of urban and rural residents increased by 7.4 percent and 10.4 percent, respectively.
At the end of the year, the number of people participating in medical insurance in the city totaled 10.94 million. Of that, 6.84 million and 4.1 million people, respectively, participated in medical insurance for urban and rural residents and in basic medical insurance for urban workers.
Moreover, there were 143 elderly care institutions providing accommodation in the city, with 28,600 beds.
Technology, education, culture, health and sports
The city last year was home to 7,140 national high-tech enterprises, an increase of 1,906 over the previous year.
In addition, the city had 63 general institutes of higher education, 501 middle and high schools and 1,170 primary schools.
As a city famous for its museums, Xi'an boasted 136 of them last year, excluding private ones, while there were 428 cultural relics protection units at all levels.
At the end of the year, there were 7,123 health institutions in the city, including 375 hospitals, 264 community health service centers and stations and 113 health centers.
Throughout the year, a total of 600 public sports demonstrations and competitions were held.
Environment shapes up
The annual energy consumption by manufacturers of a designated size – those with yearly sales of 20 million yuan or more – was 5.85 million tons of standard coal, down 2.3 percent.
The number of days with good air quality throughout the year in the city was 265, an increase of 15 days over the previous year.