China in 70 years of Communist Party rule, through figures: From an economy like poor African countries to second economy in the world

It was October 1, 1949, and in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, Mao Zedong, it was to announce the founding of the People's Republic of China.

It was an event that would radically alter the life of the Chinese and their entire country.

China marks 70 years from the founding of the Republic this week. But the road to economic prosperity has been difficult.

Very Poor

China was a very poor “country” in 1949 when the Communist Party came to power, said Al Jazeera Julian Evans-Picchard, China's senior economist at Capital Ecomoy in Singapore, records Telegrafi.

According to him, the economy focused mainly on survival agriculture.

According to China's National Statistics Bureau, the size of its economy in 1952, the earliest available year for such information was about 119 per person. This was equal to $54 with the exchange rate at the time, according to the Council Price Waterhouse Coopers ( PwC).

Internal production Bruto (PBB) per capita in the United States in 1952 was $2.349, or 44 times more than China, PwC says.

But by 2018, that gap had narrowed dramatically. Now the United States has a GDP per capita that is 6.4 times larger than that of China, which is the second largest economy in the world after the United States and rapidly growing.

The World Bank describes China's growth as the fastest sustainable “expansion from a large economy in history”, adding that “more than 850 million people have recovered from poverty”.

And on the occasion of the anniversary, China's leaders and officials have reminded their citizens of how far they have come.

“over the past seven decades, the Communist Party of China has united and led the Chinese people of all ethnic groups to work with persistence, promoting the country's economic progress with large steps”, Ning Jizha, director of the National Statistics Office, said at a press conference in September.

On that day in October 1949, the country had emerged from four years of civil war, and prior to that, a devastating Japanese invasion.

There was a <x0 peace frame”, Zhao says. “was a turning point for China. We were hoping for the future. Optimist”

China's economy in 70 years, numbers

In the seven decades since Mao Zedong founded the People's Republic of China, the country has gone from being one of the worst economies in the world to one of its most powerful. The country marked its anniversary Tuesday.

And according to another text of the same spirit medium, it sends into the 1960s, GDP per capita remained not only behind high - income nations but also in countries such as Cambodia, Kenya, and Sierra Leone, according to World Bank data.

Today, it has grown to become the second largest economy in the world since late 2018 and can top the list by 2030, according to a report by the consulting firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers.

At the end of 2018, China's GDP per capita rose to $9,732, rising 180 times over 1952”, says the report.

Although it is still ranked 80th in the world in terms of per capita GDP and is far away from the US, which is 6.4 times higher than the gap has narrowed significantly over the last 67 years since China started recording BPV statistics, PWC noted.

China's economic growth was accelerated mainly due to reforms in the late 1970s led by then Communist Party leader Deng Xiaoping.

It lowered trade barriers, allowed market forces to determine prices and increased investments, Telegrafi notes.

The Deng's “Motivations were prompted by recognition that the planned model of the economy, along with political instability, had left China weak economically and decades after, in terms of economic development”, said Diana Choylev, economist by Enodo Economyics for Al Jazeera.

The only way to avoid more economic concerns and political turmoil was to promote the opening of China with the rest of the world and begin introducing market forces”.

In 1979, China restored diplomatic relations with the US and joined the World Trade Organisation in 2001, a key catalyst for growth, Choyleva said.

Economic growth was undertaken over the next decade, leading to industrialisation of China's economy and increased its service sector.

Another feature marking China's economic growth is the growth of private firms, which were virtually nonexistence prior to 1978. While state companies are still a major contributor to China's economic engine, private firms make up more than half of its BPV.

The increase of Chinese billionaires is also in parallel. Names like Jack Ma of Alibaba and Pony Ma of Tencent (who are not close) have become synonymous with corporate success not only in China but also worldwide.

They have not been alone, as an increasing number of Chinese billionaires are getting on the list of the richest people in the world.

Between 2015 and 2015 when the Hurun report first ranked China's richest and 2018, the number of Chinese billionaires among the world's 100 richest people has almost doubled to 13 out of seven.

However, inequality has also been on the rise in China.

Also, according to Choyleva, the business model in China's investment and export-led growth must be passed on to what is directed by internal consumption.

The Communist Party knows this, but the problem is that such a fundamental shift takes time and the inevitable transition will lead to a slower increase”, it estimates.

However, failure to achieve these much needed structural changes could force the country's leadership towards changes that would be the most painful “”, considers Choyleva.