China GDP +5.0% YoY in Q1 2026
China’s gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 5.0% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026 to 334,193 billion yuan (at constant prices), accelerating 0.5 percentage points from the fourth quarter of 2025, according to preliminary data from the National Bureau of Statistics. On a seasonally adjusted quarter-on-quarter basis, GDP rose 1.3%, 0.1 percentage points higher than the previous quarter.
By sector, the primary industry added 1,194.1 billion yuan, up 3.8% YoY, contributing 2.6% to overall growth. The secondary industry added 11,613.5 billion yuan, up 4.9% YoY, contributing 34.1%. The tertiary industry added 20,611.7 billion yuan, up 5.2% YoY, contributing 63.2%. The share of tertiary industry in GDP rose 0.4 percentage points to 61.7%.
Industrial production maintained solid growth. Value-added of industry grew 6.1% YoY, 1.1 percentage points faster than Q4 2025, pulling GDP growth by 1.9 percentage points. Manufacturing accelerated to 6.3% YoY, contributing 1.6 percentage points. High-tech manufacturing and equipment manufacturing grew 12.5% and 8.9% respectively. Key products: industrial robot output surged 33.2%, integrated circuits 24.3%.
The services sector continued to improve. Information transmission, software and IT services grew 10.6% YoY, leasing and business services 12.2%, together contributing 1.2 percentage points. Financial services grew 6.5% YoY, contributing 0.5 percentage points. Wholesale and retail, transport and storage, and accommodation and catering all grew around 4.1%-4.3%.
Domestic demand picked up. Final consumption expenditure contributed 2.4 percentage points to GDP growth. Per capita spending on food, tobacco and alcohol rose 5.3%; clothing up 5.6%; daily goods and services up 6.1%. Gross capital formation contributed 1.9 percentage points. Equipment and tool purchases investment grew 13.9%, 12.2 percentage points above total fixed asset investment. Net exports of goods and services contributed 0.8 percentage points, with mechanical and electrical product exports up 18.3%.
High-tech investment outperformed: high-tech services investment grew 12.3%, high-tech manufacturing 5.2%, both above total fixed asset investment. Online retail sales of goods and services increased 8.0% YoY, with online goods sales up 7.5%, 5.1 percentage points above total retail sales. For January-February, revenue of information transmission, software and IT services firms above designated size grew 10.5%.
Source: National Bureau of Statistics of China. Original: https://www.stats.gov.cn/sj/sjjd/202604/t20260417_1963347.html