China's New Economic Drivers Index Grew 12.5 Percent in 2025, NBS Says

China's New Growth Drivers Index reached 153.0 in 2025, marking a 12.5% increase year-on-year, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The transformation and upgrading sub-index led the expansion with a 22.7% rise, contributing 34.1% to total growth, while innovation-driven metrics rose 12.9%. Key tailwinds included a 9.4% increase in high-tech manufacturing value-added, strong R&D spending reaching 2.80% of GDP, and robust export volumes for electric vehicles, solar products, and lithium batteries.

The steady double-digit expansion of the New Growth Drivers Index indicates that advanced manufacturing, clean energy, and digital infrastructure are increasingly offsetting structural headwinds in traditional sectors. With industrial upgrading and innovation contributing over 65% of overall index growth, Beijing's industrial policy pivot toward high-value-added supply chains and the 'new three' clean-tech export basket is consolidating tangible macroeconomic support.

China's New Growth Drivers Index reached 153.0 in 2025, advancing 12.5% compared to the previous year, according to calculations published by the Statistical Science Research Institute under the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The index, which tracks the emergence of new industries, new business formats, and new commercial models using 2022 as a base year of 100, showed improvements across all major sub-categories. Industrial transformation and innovation served as the primary engines of the overall increase. The transformation and upgrading sub-index climbed 22.7% to 156.8, contributing 34.1% to the total index growth. Concurrently, the innovation-driven sub-index rose 12.9% to 156.3, accounting for a 31.4% contribution share. The network economy index advanced 10.8% to 157.8, contributing 27.2%, while the economic vitality index grew by 4.8% to 137.2, contributing 7.3%. According to Lu Haiqi, head of the NBS Statistical Science Research Institute, the figures demonstrate that high-quality development continued to make measurable progress through accelerated technological innovation and green industrial shifts. High-tech manufacturing value-added rose 9.4% year-on-year—outpacing overall designated-size industrial value-added growth by 3.5 percentage points—and accounted for 17.1% of the total. Digital product manufacturing value-added expanded 9.3%, reaching a 12.5% share. Clean energy and green manufacturing remained central to the transition. Non-fossil energy accounted for an additional two percentage points of total energy consumption. Exports of China's 'new three' green products—electric vehicles, photovoltaic products, and lithium-ion batteries—approached 1.3 trillion yuan, up 27.1% year-on-year. Electric vehicle exports alone reached 3.93 million units, representing a 73.1% surge. On the innovation front, national spending on research and experimental development (R&D) reached 3.9 trillion yuan in 2025, an 8.1% year-on-year increase that brought R&D intensity to 2.80% of GDP. Basic research funding expanded 11.1% to 277.8 billion yuan, representing 7.08% of total R&D expenditure. China also accumulated 17,600 specialized and sophisticated 'Little Giant' enterprises, while the turnover value of technology contracts reached 7.6 trillion yuan, up 10.8%.