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Beijing Economy Snapshot: Handling Growth Compared to Similar Cities Globally
The capital's 5.4 percent expansion in 2025 positions it as China's second city above the 5-trillion-yuan mark, with sector targets set against wider urban benchmarks.
How we reported this
Beijing's 2025 Gross Regional Product reached 5.2 trillion yuan, or about 746.7 billion dollars, after 5.4 percent growth. That figure made the city the second in China to cross the 5-trillion-yuan threshold, following only Shanghai.
The result arrives as the city sets a target of more than 5 percent GDP growth for 2026. Officials point to manufacturing and services as the main levers, a pattern that differs from some peer cities where industrial output has slowed or service shares have stayed flatter.
Sector Drivers and Global Context
Electronic equipment manufacturing rose 20.2 percent while the automotive industry, especially new energy vehicles, expanded 17.7 percent. These gains sit inside an economy where the service sector already accounts for 86.0 percent of GDP. Software and IT services alone added 1.2 trillion yuan after an 11 percent jump. Cities such as Tokyo and Seoul have recorded smaller service-sector lifts in the same period, according to parallel national releases, so Beijing's concentration in high-value services gives it a distinct buffer.
The capital's per capita disposable income reached 89,090 yuan after a 4.4 percent real-term rise. At the same time the surveyed urban unemployment rate held at 4.1 percent. These two indicators together show household purchasing power and labor-market stability that several European capitals have not matched in their latest readings.
Income Stability and Next Steps
Data released through the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics and cross-checked in central government summaries confirm the service-sector weight and the manufacturing surges. The same releases note that the 2026 growth target rests on sustaining those two channels rather than on new external stimulus.
Local planners will track whether the 20.2 percent electronics gain and the 17.7 percent automotive expansion carry forward into the first half of the year. Firms in those industries can use the published targets to align investment schedules with the city's stated priority on new energy vehicles and advanced equipment. Residents will see the effect most directly in software and IT service wages, which already form the largest slice of the 1.2 trillion yuan added value recorded for 2025.