In 2025, China's new economic growth drivers index rose 12.5 percent to reach 153, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced on August 27. The index, which measures the level of development of new industries, new business formats and new business models, continues to rise, sending out a clear signal: China's new economic drivers continue to grow and industrial upgrading continues to accelerate, injecting strong momentum into high-quality economic development.

The index gives a real and comprehensive picture of the economy moving toward a new future in multiple dimensions, including innovation-driven development, transformation and upgrading, the digital economy and economic vitality. In 2025, all sub-indices increased compared to the previous year. The transformation and upgrading index was 156.8, an increase of 22.7 percent year on year, contributing the most to the growth of the overall index; the innovation-driven index was 156.3, an increase of 12.9 percent; the digital economy index stood at 157.8, up 10.8 percent year on year; and the economic vitality index rose 4.8 percent to 137.2. The four major sectors together support the overall index and indicate that innovation and transformation have become the core highlights of China's economic performance.

Technology innovation is the source of new growth drivers. In recent years, China has increased its investment in research and development, built strength in science and technology, and stepped up efforts to make major breakthroughs in important products and core technologies in key fields. AI has rapidly empowered many industries, and breakthroughs are being made in biomedicine and high-end equipment manufacturing, indicating that innovation no longer remains in laboratories, but is transformed into real productivity. The steady rise of the innovation-driven index indicates that innovative elements are rapidly gathering and science and technology are deeply integrated with industry, providing solid support for the emergence of new industries and new business models and increasing the contributions of science and technology to economic growth.

Transformation and upgrading are progressing steadily and rapidly, activating the impetus for replacing old growth drivers with new ones. In the NBS report, the transformation and upgrading index contributed the most to the growth of the overall index, demonstrating the strong momentum of industrial iteration and upgrading. Strategic emerging industries continue to expand, and hi-tech manufacturing maintains rapid growth, with new-energy vehicles, lithium-ion batteries and photovoltaic products becoming increasingly competitive in the international market. In the meantime, traditional industries are undergoing digital, intelligent and green transformation.

The digital economy index keeps increasing, with digital infrastructure constantly improved and 5G networks having wider coverage. Online consumption is booming, cross-border e-commerce is expanding overseas market share, and online and offline businesses are deeply integrated, giving rise to emergence of new business formats and models. Digital technology has reshaped the entire chain of production, circulation and consumption, not only better satisfying people's needs but also opening up new business opportunities for market players.

Fostering new growth drivers is a long-term project that cannot be accomplished overnight. Currently, the international environment is complex and volatile, the industrial and supply chains still face challenges, and technology innovation in some areas still takes a long time to make breakthroughs. The positive trend in the new economic growth drivers index is a starting point for continued progress. Therefore, China must continue the favorable momentum of new growth drivers while maintaining strategic focus, continuously improving the innovation ecosystem and advancing industrial transformation and upgrading, so as to further spur the vitality of business entities.

The 12.5-percent increase in the new economic growth drivers index is a vivid illustration of China's economic restructuring. As new growth drivers continue to be fostered and strengthened, the resilience and internal momentum of the Chinese economy will be further enhanced, thus laying more solid foundations for effectively improving the quality of growth while appropriately increasing output. BR

Copyedited by G.P. Wilson

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