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Tibet Xinjiang Yunnan Zhejiang

Acting Governor: Qin Guangrong

Capital: Kunming

Government office address: Wuhuashan, Kunming

Tel: 0871-362 1773


Geographic location

Yunnan is the most southwestern province in China, with the Tropic of Cancer running through its southern part. The province has an area of 394,000 sq km, 4.1% of the nation's total. The province borders Guangxi and Guizhou in the east, Sichuan in the north, and Tibet in the northwest. It shares a border of 4,060 km with Myanmar in the west, Laos in the south, and Vietnam in the southeast.
Yunnan 2005 - The Year in Review 2004 in Review

General Economy

Gross domestic product (GDP)

GDP for 2005 was 347.234 billion yuan, up 9.0% from the previous year. The per capita GDP stood at 7,833 yuan, up 8.1%.

GDP ratio (primary, secondary and tertiary industries)

The primary industry yielded a value added of 65.618 billion yuan, 6.3% more than that of the previous year; the secondary industry, 144.971 billion yuan, a growth of 8.5%; the tertiary industry, 136.645 billion yuan, a growth of 10.8%. The GDP ratio of the three sectors changed from 19.3:41.6:39.1 in 2004 to 18.9:41.7:39.4.

Revenue and expenditure

Provincial revenue was 31.26 billion yuan, an increase of 18.7% over the previous year. Provincial expenditure was 76.6 billion yuan, an increase of 15.4%.

Consumer price index (CPI)

CPI was up 1.4% from the previous year.

Investment in fixed assets

Fixed asset investment was valued at 174.3 billion yuan, up by 31.0% from the previous year.

Major Industries


In 2005, the province's total grain output was 15.149 million tons, an increase of 0.4% from the previous year.


The industrial added value totaled 120.007 billion yuan, an increase of 7.7%.


Its added value was 24.964 billion yuan, up by 12.5%.


Freight carried by various means of transport for the year was 4.5% up from the previous year to reach 65.649 billion ton-kilometers, which included 27.037 billion ton-kilometers by railway, up 4.0%; 38.196 billion ton-kilometers by highway, up 4.6%; 123 million ton-kilometers by air, up 4.2%; and 293 million ton-kilometers by waterway, up 38.2%.

The number of passengers carried by various means of transport was 4.4% up to reach 33.16 billion person-kilometers, which included 4.104 billion person-kilometers by railway, up 10.0%; 23.312 billion person-kilometers by highway, up 2.6%; 5.639 billion person-kilometers by air, up 7.7%; and 105 million person-kilometers by waterway, up 7.7%.

Postal services

The annual turnover of postal operations totaled 856 million yuan, 4.6% up from the previous year.


The annual turnover of telecom services was 26.36 billion yuan, 31.3% up from the previous year.

At the end of 2005, the number of fixed line subscribers reached 5.977 million, up by 9.2% from 2004; and the number of mobile phone subscribers reached 8.988 million, up by 22.7%.


The annual turnover from retail sales reached 103.44 billion yuan, an increase of 13.0% from the previous year.


Revenue from tourism totaled 43.014 billion yuan, up by 16.5%.

Continued Effects of Market Reform

Imports & exports

The annual value of imports and exports totaled US$4.738 billion, an increase of 26.6% from the previous year. Of the amount, US$2.642 billion were from exports, up 18.0%, and US$2.097 billion were from imports, up 39.4%.

Economic and technological cooperation

Overseas project and labor contracts signed during the year, totaling 132, were valued at US$530 million, up 69.0% from the previous year. Business turnover for the year totaled US$390 million, an increase of 15.2% from the previous year.

Foreign investment

Foreign direct investment realized in monetary terms was US$189 million, up by 34.1% from the year before.

Social Undertakings

Science and technology

The R&D input for the year stood at 1.413 billion yuan, 13.0% up from the previous year. A total of 1,853 technological contracts were signed during the year, with the business turnover standing at 1.592 billion yuan.


There are 44 institutions of higher learning in the province. The number of students enrolled during the year stood at 84,500. A total of 143,500 people got rid of illiteracy.


The province had a total of 116 professional performing organizations, 149 cultural centers, 149 public libraries, and 31 museums at the end of the year.

About 91.0% and 92.5% of the provincial population respectively had access to various radio and TV programs. The cable TV subscribers numbered 3.2 million at the year-end.

Public health

There were a total of 10,110 medical and healthcare institutions equipped with 74,700 beds and staffed with 133,022 medical professionals and technicians at the year-end.


Athletes from the province won 1 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze medal in international competitions and 33 golds, 30 silvers and 31 bronzes in national games.

Welfare and aid

Various welfare units across the province were equipped with 20,003 beds and put up 10,007 homeless and vagrant people during the year. There were 424 urban community service facilities at the end of the year. The funds raised through selling welfare lottery totaled 370 million yuan in 2005. Public donations totaled 25.47 million yuan.

Poverty relief

The year saw a reduction of 139,000 people living with a per capita annual income of less than 683 yuan.

Population, Employment, Social Security and Living Standards


The birth rate in 2005 was 14.72‰, while the mortality rate was 6.75‰. The natural growth rate of the population stood at 7.97‰. At the end of the year, the total population stood at 44.504 million, an increase of 352,000 from 2004.


The employed population stood at 24.5 million at the end of 2005, an increase of 486,000 from the previous year-end. A total of 107,100 laid-off workers got reemployed during the year. The registered number of urban unemployed population stood at 129,700.

Registered unemployment rate

The registered urban unemployment rate was 4.2%.

Social security

In 2005, insurance plans for endowments, unemployment and medical treatment covered a population of 2.587 million, 1.892 million and 3.207 million respectively.

Residents' income

The disposable income of urban residents was 9,266 yuan per capita, up by 4.5% from 2004. Rural residents' per capita net income was 2,042 yuan, a growth of 6.5%.

Residents' consumption

Urban residents' per capita expenditure was 6,997 yuan, up by 2.3% from the previous year while that of rural residents was 1,789 yuan, up by 13.9%.

Geography and Natural Conditions

Elevation extremes

The highest point in the north is the Kagebo Peak in Deqin County on the Deqin Plateau, which is about 6,740 meters high; and the lowest is in the Honghe River Valley in Hekou County, with an elevation of 76.4 meters.

Natural resources

Yunnan abounds in natural resources. It is known as the kingdom of plants, animals and home of non-ferrous metals and medicinal herbs. At the end of 2005, there were 198 nature reserves, covering a total area of 3.55 million hectares.

The province not only has more plant species of tropical, subtropical, temperate, and frozen zones than any other province in the country, but also has many ancient, derivative plants, as well as species introduced from foreign countries. Among the 30,000 species of plants in China, 18,000 can be found in Yunnan. A total of 144 species of plants are now under Class I and Class II protection.

More than 150 kinds of minerals have been discovered in the province. The potential value of the proven deposits in Yunnan is 3 trillion yuan, 40% of which come from fuel minerals, 7.3% from metallic minerals, and 52.7% from nonmetallic minerals.


Yunnan has sufficient rainfall and many rivers and lakes. The annual water flow originating in the province is 200 billion cubic meters, three times that of the Yellow River. The rivers flowing into the province from outside add 160 billion cubic meters, which means there are more than 10,000 cubic meters of water for each person in the province. This is four times the average in the country. The rich water resources offer abundant hydro-energy.

Tourism resources

Yunnan is attractive with its rich tourism resources, including beautiful landscape, colorful ethnic customs, and a pleasant climate.
