Coordinating the Major Task of Boosting Consumption

Final consumption is a lasting driver of economic growth. Since the advent of the New Era, under the strong leadership of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, China has deeply implemented the strategy of expanding domestic demand, adopted multiple measures to expand consumption demand, and achieved historic accomplishments in the development of the consumer market. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, a series of policy measures to comprehensively promote consumption were steadily implemented, the consumer market continued to develop healthily, the consumption structure was continuously optimized, the main engine role of consumption in driving economic growth became increasingly prominent, and notable results were achieved in expanding domestic demand and boosting consumption.

最终消费是经济增长的持久动力。进入新时代以来，在以习近平同志为核心的党中央坚强领导下，我国深入实施扩大内需战略，多措并举扩大消费需求，消费市场发展取得历史性成就。“十四五”期间，一系列全面促进消费的政策举措稳步实施，消费市场持续健康发展，消费结构不断优化，消费拉动经济增长的主引擎作用日益凸显，扩大内需、提振消费成效显著。

Main Characteristics of Changes in the Consumption Structure

消费结构变化的主要特征

The foundational role of consumption in economic growth is increasingly prominent. Since the New Era, the potential of China’s consumer market has been gradually released, and in 2018 it rose to become the world’s second-largest consumer market. With the steady growth of consumption scale, the driving effect of consumption on economic growth has significantly strengthened; the contribution rate of final consumption expenditure to gross domestic product (GDP) has exceeded that of gross capital formation and net exports. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the focus of China’s economic policy shifted more toward benefiting people’s livelihoods and promoting consumption, smoothing the economic cycle through consumption boosting, and leading industrial upgrading through consumption upgrading; the foundational role of consumption was further highlighted. In 2024, the contribution rate of consumption to economic growth was 44.5%, continuing to play the role of the primary driving force for economic development.

消费在经济增长中的基础性作用日益突出。新时代以来，我国消费市场潜能逐步释放，2018年跃升为全球第二大消费市场。随着消费规模稳步增长，消费对经济增长的拉动作用显著增强，最终消费支出对国内生产总值（GDP）的贡献率超过资本形成总额和净出口的贡献率。“十四五”期间，我国经济政策的着力点更多转向惠民生、促消费，以消费提振畅通经济循环，以消费升级引领产业升级，消费的基础性作用进一步凸显。2024年，消费对经济增长贡献率为44.5%，继续发挥经济发展第一拉动力作用。

Household consumption, government consumption, and production consumption all show good growth momentum. Household consumption and government consumption, as two forms of final consumption, both exhibit a trend of sustained growth. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, policies and special actions related to restoring, stimulating, and boosting consumption were successively introduced, effectively promoting the development of key consumption areas such as automobiles, home furnishings, electronic products, and tourism, as well as new types of consumption such as digital, green, and smart consumption. In addition, production consumption, with enterprises as the main consumers, also shows a trend of accelerated development. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China implemented large-scale equipment renewal policies to stimulate manufacturers’ demand for means of production, while relying on advanced science and technology, a complete industrial system, and an advanced manufacturing base to promote the development of producer services. Driven by a combination of policies, production consumption, including the consumption of means of production and producer services, grew rapidly.

居民消费、政府消费和生产消费增长势头良好。居民消费和政府消费作为最终消费的两种形态，均呈现持续增长态势。“十四五”期间，恢复、刺激、提振消费的相关政策和专项行动接续出台，有力促进了汽车、家居、电子产品、旅游等重点消费以及数字、绿色、智能等新型消费发展。此外，以企业为消费主体的生产消费也呈加快发展态势。“十四五”期间，我国通过实施大规模设备更新政策拉动厂商对生产资料的需求，同时依托先进科学技术、完备产业体系和先进制造业基础促进生产性服务业发展，在一系列政策组合拳推动下，对生产资料和生产性服务的消费等生产消费快速增长。

Rural consumption vitality continues to surge. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, China has solidly advanced the reform of the income distribution system, implemented the comprehensive rural revitalization strategy, deepened agricultural supply-side structural reform, significantly improved the consumption structure of middle- and low-income groups, and accelerated the development of the rural consumer market. From 2013 to 2024, the average annual growth rate of rural residents’ consumption level was approximately twice that of urban areas, with consumption potential continuously being released. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China continued to promote the distribution of new energy vehicles and green, smart home appliances to the countryside, carried out activities such as trade-ins for new ones, developed rural e-commerce and express logistics delivery systems, continuously improved the urban-rural integrated consumption network, and promoted the tiered upgrading of rural consumption.

农村消费活力持续迸发。党的十八大以来，我国扎实推进收入分配制度改革，实施乡村全面振兴战略，深化农业供给侧结构性改革，中低收入群体消费结构显著改善，农村消费市场发展步伐加快。2013年至2024年，农村居民消费水平年均增长率约为城镇水平的2倍，消费潜力不断释放。“十四五”期间，我国持续推进新能源汽车、绿色智能家电下乡，开展以旧换新等活动，发展农村电商和快递物流配送体系，城乡融合消费网络持续完善，农村消费梯次升级。

The proportion of improvement-oriented consumption is gradually rising. With the substantial increase in residents’ income levels, household consumption has shifted from meeting basic needs of “having enough to eat and wear” to high-quality consumption in pursuit of a better life. From 2013 to 2024, the national Engel coefficient for residents decreased by 1.4 percentage points, and the consumption structure and quality of household consumption continued to be optimized and upgraded. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China continuously expanded the supply of high-quality consumer goods, mid-to-high-end products, and services such as education, healthcare, and elderly care, effectively meeting personalized, differentiated, and quality-oriented consumption demands, promoting consumption toward green, healthy, and safe development, gradually optimizing the consumption structure, and showing a clear trend of consumption upgrading among residents. From 2021 to 2024, the growth rates of improvement-oriented consumption expenditures, such as per capita transportation and communication expenditures, education, culture and entertainment expenditures, and healthcare expenditures, were all faster than the overall growth rate of total consumption expenditure.

改善型消费比重逐步上升。随着居民收入水平的大幅提高，居民消费从满足“吃饱穿暖”基本需求的消费转向追求美好生活的高品质消费。2013年至2024年，全国居民恩格尔系数下降1.4个百分点，居民消费结构和消费品质持续优化升级。“十四五”期间，我国持续扩大优质消费品、中高端产品供给和教育、医疗、养老等服务供给，有效满足个性化、差异化、品质化消费需求，促进消费向绿色、健康、安全发展，消费结构逐步优化，居民消费升级态势明显。2021年至2024年，全国居民人均交通通信支出、教育文化娱乐支出、医疗保健支出等改善型消费支出增速均快于消费支出总体增速。

Service consumption is expanding in scale and improving in quality. Since the New Era, China has continuously optimized and expanded the supply of services, stimulated the endogenous momentum of service consumption through innovation, cultivated new growth points for service consumption, and vigorously promoted the high-quality development of service consumption. In 2013, the contribution rate of the tertiary industry to GDP exceeded that of the secondary industry for the first time, becoming the industry with the largest contribution to GDP. In 2014, the contribution rate of the tertiary industry to GDP exceeded 50% for the first time, becoming the main engine of economic and social development. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, focusing on the needs of industrial transformation and upgrading and household consumption upgrading, China expanded the effective supply of the service industry, released diversified consumption demands, and achieved rapid expansion in the scale of service consumption as well as continuous innovation in business models and formats. Service consumption in areas such as elderly care, childcare, cultural tourism, and sports has expanded in scale and improved in quality, becoming new consumption hotspots.

服务消费提质扩容。进入新时代以来，我国持续优化和扩大服务供给，以创新激发服务消费内生动能，培育服务消费新增长点，大力促进服务消费高质量发展。2013年第三产业对GDP贡献率首次超过第二产业，成为对GDP贡献率最大的产业。2014年第三产业对GDP贡献率首次超过50%，成为经济社会发展主引擎。“十四五”期间，我国聚焦产业转型升级和居民消费升级需要，扩大服务业有效供给，释放多元化消费需求，服务消费实现规模上的快速扩张以及业态模式上的不断创新。养老托育、文旅体育等服务消费提质扩容，成为新的消费热点。

New business models, new models, and new scenarios for consumption are becoming more abundant. With the widespread application of new-generation information technologies such as cloud computing, big data, the Internet of Things, and mobile Internet, new consumption scenarios, business models, and models are constantly emerging, further meeting people’s high-quality and diversified consumption demands. From 2014 to 2024, the average annual growth rate of China’s online retail sales exceeded the average annual growth rate of total retail sales of consumer goods. The “Internet+” business model expanded rapidly, and online and offline consumption channels gradually became smooth. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China actively cultivated new types of consumption. Information consumption, digital consumption, and green consumption became important growth points in the consumer market. New models and business formats such as customized, experiential, smart, and fashion consumption added new vitality to the consumer market. Innovating, enriching, and expanding consumption scenarios have become a distinctive feature of the current development of the consumption field. The consumption of groups such as Generation Z and the silver-haired generation has become a development focus, and the consumer market is continuously transforming and upgrading toward refinement, personalization, and quality orientation.

消费新业态新模式新场景更加丰富。随着云计算、大数据、物联网、移动互联网等新一代信息技术广泛应用，消费新场景新业态新模式不断涌现，进一步满足人们高品质、多元化的消费需求。2014年至2024年，我国网上零售额年均增速高于社会消费品零售总额的年均增速，“互联网+”商业模式迅速扩张，线上线下消费渠道逐步畅通。“十四五”期间，我国积极培育新型消费，信息消费、数字消费、绿色消费成为消费市场的重要增长点，定制、体验、智能、时尚消费等新模式新业态为消费市场增添新活力，创新、丰富与拓展消费场景成为当前消费领域发展的显著特征，“Z世代”、银发族等群体的消费成为发展重点，消费市场不断向精细化、个性化、品质化方向转型升级。

Clarifying the Key Directions for Boosting Consumption

明晰提振消费重点方向

Enhancing consumption capacity. This is the foundation for boosting consumption and the key to smoothing the domestic economic cycle and consolidating the foundation of economic growth. To this end, first, enhance household consumption capacity, focusing on solving current problems such as excessively large income gaps, a high proportion of rigid expenditures, and unstable income for flexible employment groups, and increase the portion of residents’ disposable income used for consumption expenditure. Second, enhance government consumption capacity, focusing on resolving the contradiction between slowing growth in local fiscal revenue and increasing expenditure demands, and between insufficient public service expenditure and excessive public management expenditure, to effectively improve actual utility. Third, enhance production consumption capacity, focusing on solving problems of production obstruction and insufficient consumption for enterprises in areas such as investment and financing, cost control, and industrial upgrading, to promote the improvement of production consumption capacity.

提升消费能力。这是提振消费的根本和畅通国内大循环、夯实经济增长根基的关键。对此，一要提升居民消费能力，着力解决我国当前收入差距偏大、刚性支出占比偏高、灵活就业群体收入不稳定等问题，增加居民可支配收入用于消费支出。二要提升政府消费能力，着力解决地方财政收入增长放缓与支出需求增加、公共服务支出不足与公共管理支出过多之间的矛盾，有效提升实际效用。三要提升生产消费能力，着力解决企业在投融资、成本控制、产业升级等方面的生产受阻与消费不足问题，促进生产消费能力提升。

Strengthening consumption willingness. The contradiction of insufficient effective demand in China’s economic operation remains prominent. The proportion of per capita household consumption expenditure to per capita disposable income shows a downward trend. Household consumption is relatively cautious, consumption willingness is suppressed, and consumption potential urgently needs to be stimulated. To this end, first, form good income expectations, enhance residents’ confidence in future income growth, and stimulate potential consumption demand. Second, increase consumption time, by fully implementing the paid leave system and other measures, to ensure that consumption demand is effectively transformed into actual consumption behavior. Third, enrich consumption choices, increase the supply of high-quality products in the consumer market, enhance the adaptability of supply and demand in the consumer market, and better meet the growing quality-oriented and personalized consumption demands of urban and rural residents.

增强消费意愿。我国经济运行中有效需求不足的矛盾依然突出，居民人均消费支出占人均可支配收入的比重呈下降趋势，居民消费较为谨慎，消费意愿受到抑制，消费潜力亟待激发。对此，一要形成良好收入预期，增强居民对未来收入增长的信心，激发潜在消费需求。二要增加消费时间，通过全面落实带薪休假制度等，确保消费需求有效转化为实际消费行为。三要丰富消费选择，增加消费市场中优质产品供给，增强消费市场供给与需求的适配性，更好满足城乡居民日益增长的品质化、个性化消费需求。

Promoting consumption upgrading. Currently, there are structural contradictions between supply and demand in China’s consumer market, and consumption upgrading faces challenges. To this end, first, reduce the burden of rigid expenditures, alleviate residents’ expenditure pressure in areas such as housing, healthcare, and education, channel more funds toward consumption areas such as cultural tourism, fitness, and sports, and promote the upgrading of the consumption structure. Second, upgrade and improve the quality of traditional consumption, meet the diverse and high-quality demands of the people in traditional consumption areas such as clothing, food, housing, and transportation, and improve support policies such as trade-ins for new ones. Third, enhance the level of basic public goods and services in urban and rural areas, continuously meet the growing needs of urban and rural residents for basic public goods and services in key areas such as compulsory education, basic medical and health services, and basic old-age security. Fourth, increase the supply of high-quality cultural and entertainment consumption, enhance the scale and quality of new types of consumption such as digital, green, and smart consumption, and better meet residents’ improvement-oriented consumption demands.

推动消费升级。当前，我国消费市场中存在供需结构性矛盾，消费升级面临考验。对此，一要减少刚性支出负担，缓解居民在住房、医疗、教育等领域的支出压力，将更多资金投向文化旅游、健身体育等消费领域，推进消费结构升级。二要提质升级传统消费，满足人民群众在衣食住行等传统消费方面的多样化高品质需求，完善以旧换新等支持政策。三要提升城乡基本公共产品和服务水平，在义务教育、基本医疗卫生服务、基本养老保障等重点领域不断满足城乡居民日益增长的基本公共产品和服务需要。四要增加优质文化娱乐消费供给，提升数字、绿色、智能等新型消费的规模和质量，更好满足居民改善型消费需求。

Improving the consumption environment. As an important safeguard for boosting consumption, the consumption environment plays a supporting role in advancing high-quality development of consumption. The contradiction between the vigorous growth of new consumption formats and models and the lagging behind of the supporting institutional framework hinders the further development of the consumer market. In response to this, first, it is necessary to strengthen regulation, promptly follow up and improve regulatory rules, achieve precise, dynamic, and coordinated governance, and create a consumer market environment of fair competition. Second, it is necessary to strengthen the protection of consumer rights and interests, build a whole-chain rights protection system, improve after-sales service, and enable more people to be able to consume, dare to consume, willing to consume, and consume with confidence. Third, it is necessary to strengthen infrastructure construction, with a focus on advancing supporting infrastructure for instant consumption, digital consumption, and shared consumption, and build a consumption environment that integrates online and offline channels and coordinates urban and rural development.

改善消费环境。作为提振消费的重要保障，消费环境对推进消费高质量发展发挥支撑作用。消费新业态新模式的蓬勃发展与配套支撑体系滞后之间的矛盾，阻碍消费市场进一步发展。对此，一要加强监管，及时跟进完善监管规则，实现精准化、动态化、协同化治理，营造公平竞争的消费市场环境。二要强化消费者权益保障，构建全链条权益保护体系，完善售后服务，让更多人能消费、敢消费、愿消费、放心消费。三要强化基础设施建设，重点推进即时消费、数字消费、共享消费等配套基建，构建线上线下融合、城乡协同发展的消费环境。

Ensuring the detailed and concrete implementation of specific measures

推动具体举措落实落细

Coordinating the implementation of supporting reforms. Adhere to the orientation of giving priority to employment, support various enterprises and public institutions in increasing employment positions, adopt forms such as government procurement of services to provide training for the re-employed, and provide support for entrepreneurs. Reform the income distribution system, appropriately raise the minimum wage standard, improve the reasonable wage growth mechanism, gradually increase the proportion of labor remuneration in primary distribution, and increase residents’ property income through multiple channels. Optimize tax reduction and exemption policies, advance the reform of the personal income tax, standardize tax policies on business income, capital income, and property income, and improve the tax refund policy. Relax and broaden the restrictions on migrant workers settling in cities and towns, advance supporting reforms including the household registration system, and strengthen guarantees for housing and the education of accompanying children. Improve the social security system, alleviate residents’ worries about old-age care, medical care, and other aspects, expand the coverage of social security, and better meet residents’ security needs. Appropriately expand government consumption budget expenditure, promote the allocation of more financial resources “invested in people” and serving people’s livelihoods, while reducing administrative management expenditure, increase the budget for expenditure on public goods and services, and provide more and better public goods and services for the whole society. Guide social forces to participate in the provision of public goods and services in an orderly manner, carry out franchising of infrastructure and public utilities, support social forces in participating in public welfare undertakings, improve the quality of public goods and services, and guarantee the basic livelihood of low-income groups and vulnerable groups. Optimize the process for using ultra-long-term special government bonds, summarize and promote advanced experience in large-scale equipment renewal, and optimize the use direction, use rules, and allocation procedures for ultra-long-term special government bonds.

统筹实施配套改革。坚持就业优先导向，支持各类企事业单位增加就业岗位，采取政府购买服务等形式为再就业者提供培训，为创业者提供支持。改革收入分配制度，适当提高最低工资标准，完善工资合理增长机制，逐步提高劳动报酬在初次分配中的比重，多渠道增加居民财产性收入。优化税收减免政策，推进个人所得税改革，规范经营所得、资本所得、财产所得税收政策，完善退税政策。放开放宽进城农民工城镇落户限制，推动包括户籍制度在内的配套改革，加强住房、随迁子女教育保障。完善社会保障体系，减轻居民在养老、医疗等方面的后顾之忧，扩大社会保障覆盖面，更好满足居民保障需求。适当扩大政府消费预算支出，推动更多资金资源“投资于人”、服务于民生，在减少行政管理支出的同时，增加用于公共产品和服务支出的预算，为全社会提供更多更好的公共产品和服务。引导社会力量有序参与公共产品和服务提供，开展基础设施和公用事业特许经营，支持社会力量参与公益事业，改善公共产品和服务质量，保障低收入人群和弱势群体的基本生活。优化超长期特别国债使用流程，总结推广大规模设备更新的先进经验，对超长期特别国债的使用方向、使用规则、拨付程序等进行优化。

Continuously optimizing policies and measures. Accelerate the implementation of special actions to boost consumption, develop the debut economy, the silver economy, the ice and snow economy, and the sharing economy, cultivate new consumption scenarios, and promote the quality improvement, expansion, and upgrading of both life-service consumption and production-service consumption. Optimize the policy for trading in old consumer goods for new ones, issue guiding industry standards for improving the quality of consumer goods, carry out intelligent and green upgrades for home appliances, home furnishings, and new energy vehicles included in the subsidy scope for trade-ins, and improve and explore various consumption support methods such as ultra-long-term government bond subsidies, distribution of consumption vouchers, and consumer credit. Optimize the large-scale equipment renewal policy, issue guiding industry standards for the quality of equipment included in the scope of the equipment renewal policy, and appropriately increase the categories of fixed capital included in the subsidy scope of the equipment renewal policy.

持续优化政策措施。加快实施提振消费的专项行动，发展首发经济、银发经济、冰雪经济、共享经济等，培育消费新场景，促进生活性服务消费、生产性服务消费提质扩容升级。优化消费品以旧换新政策，针对消费品质量提升出台指导性行业标准，围绕纳入以旧换新补贴范围的家电、家装、新能源汽车等进行智能化、绿色化升级，完善和探索超长期国债补贴、消费券发放、消费信贷等多种消费支持方式。优化大规模设备更新政策，对纳入设备更新政策范围的设备质量出台指导性行业标准，适当增加纳入设备更新政策补贴范围的固定资本品种。

Creating a sound institutional environment. Improve the institutional system for protecting consumer rights and interests, use intelligent means to promote the healthy development of the prepaid consumption model, establish a punishment system for counterfeit and shoddy products, improve the defective product recall system, and perfect diversified consumer rights protection and dispute resolution mechanisms. Support industry associations and leading enterprises in jointly formulating service consumption standards to improve service quality. Systematically clean up restrictive measures, comprehensively investigate systems, regulations, and clauses in the consumption field, clean up restrictive measures in areas such as industry access, transaction behavior, consumer credit services, consumer rights protection, and specific goods or services, prohibit “one-size-fits-all” approaches and ratcheting up requirements, and remove hidden barriers affecting normal consumption behavior. Optimize and implement the vacation system, improve the paid leave and holiday system, guarantee the right to rest and vacation, and further unleash the consumption potential of culture, tourism, sports, and other sectors. Strengthen the construction of a healthy consumption culture, vigorously advocate rational consumption, green consumption, and healthy consumption.

营造良好制度环境。健全保障消费者权益的制度体系，借助智能化手段推进预付式消费模式健康发展，建立假冒伪劣产品惩罚制度，健全缺陷产品召回制度，完善多元化消费维权和纠纷解决机制。支持行业协会和头部企业联合制定服务消费标准，提升服务质量。有序清理限制性措施，全面摸排消费领域的制度、规定、条款，清理行业准入、交易行为、消费信贷服务、消费者权益保护、特定商品或服务等方面的限制性措施，禁止搞“一刀切”和层层加码，破除影响正常消费行为的隐性壁垒。优化和落实休假制度，完善带薪休假和节假日制度，保障休息休假权益，进一步释放文化、旅游、体育等消费潜力。加强健康消费文化建设，大力倡导理性消费、绿色消费、健康消费。

(Authors: Ji Zhengju, Liu Minru, Liu Chengli, Wang Xiaorui)

（执笔：季正聚、刘敏茹、刘承礼、王潇锐）

Online Editor: Huihui

网络编辑：慧慧