China has set a goal of raising total retail sales of consumer goods to around 60 trillion yuan (roughly 8.8 trillion U.S. dollars) by 2030 and further strengthening consumption’s role in driving economic growth, according to a government plan on expanding consumption during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030).
The plan, which was recently approved by the State Council, also aims to significantly increase the ratio of household consumption to GDP and achieve relatively fast growth in total goods and services consumption.
The plan outlines other targets in areas including optimizing the consumption structure, continuously improving consumption capacity, enhancing the supply of goods and services, and significantly improving the consumption environment.
During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), China’s consumer market had achieved remarkable results, with total retail sales of consumer goods reaching 50.1 trillion yuan in 2025, surpassing the 50-trillion-yuan mark for the first time.
The average contribution rate of final consumption expenditure to economic growth during 2021-2025 stood at 58.8 percent, up 10 percentage points from the previous five-year period.
The 15th Five-Year Plan period will see China’s consumer market development enter a critical stage of both scale expansion and quality improvement, with a solid consumption foundation, sound upgrading momentum and abundant innovation vitality in consumption scenarios.
In its approval of the plan, the State Council stresses efforts to increase domestic demand, adopt specific actions to boost consumption, expand services consumption, upgrade goods consumption and enrich business forms, among others.
It also urges local governments at all levels to make consumption expansion a key task in their economic and social development during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, while implementing the plan’s objectives and policy measures in line with their local conditions.