A report issued by the National Bureau of Statistics of China on Monday indicates that as of 2006, China's contribution to the world economy (the ratio of each nation's annual GDP growth to world GDP growth) had risen to 14.5%, ranking second just behind the US which was 22.8%.

China's contribution rate is 1.4 percentage points higher than that of the Eurozone and 6.7 higher than Japan.

In 1978, China's contribution to the world economy was only 2.3%, 35 percentage points lower than the US, 15.9 lower than Japan, and 13.6 lower than the Eurozone.

Between 1979 and 2007, China's economy grew by 9.8% on average per year, 6.8 % faster than the world economy's average growth rate during the same period.

While China's contribution to world economic growth is increasing, China's influence on the global economy is also strengthening.

In 1978, China's economy only added 0.1 percentage points to the world's GDP growth rate, while the US economy at the time added 1.64 percentage points, accounting for over one third of the world's economic growth rate.

In 2006, China's economy contributed 0.55 percentage points to the world's economic growth rate, taking 2nd place after the US.

By People's Daily Online