BEIJING: China’s electricity consumption, a key barometer of economic activity, went up 10.3 per cent year-on-year in 2021, as the country’s economy ended the year with a strong rebound despite sporadic epidemic resurgences.

Total power use in China reached 8.31 trillion kilowatt-hours (kWh) in 2021, data from the National Energy Administration (NEA) showed. The figure represents a 14.7 per cent growth from 2019, putting the average growth for the past two years at 7.1 per cent.

Specifically, power consumed by the primary industries climbed 16.4 per cent, secondary climbed, 9.1 per cent and tertiary industries 17.8 per cent year-on-year, the NEA said.

Residential power consumption saw a 7.3-per cent year-on-year increase to 1.17 trillion kWh in 2021, NEA data showed.

The country’s gross domestic product expanded 8.1 per cent year-on-year to 114.37 trillion yuan (about $18 trillion) last year.

[embedpost slug=”/chinas-gdp-expands-8-1-in-2021/”]