The Pearl River Delta has been one of the most economically dynamic regions of the People's Republic of China since the launch of China's reform programme in 1979. With annual gross domestic product growth of 13.45 percent over three decades since 1978, it is 3.5 percentage points higher than the national average. Since 1978, almost 30% of all foreign investment in China was in the PRD. In 2007 its GDP rose to US$448 billion which makes its economy about the size of Taiwan's and by 2019 this figure has increased to US$2.0 trillion or about the same size as Italy. The abundance of employment opportunities created a pool of wealthy, middle-income, professional consumers with an annual per capita income that puts them among China's wealthiest. Since the onset of China's reform program, the Pearl River Delta Economic Zone has been the fastest growing portion of the fastest growing province in the fastest growing large economy in the world.