NANSHAN’S GDP in 2017 ranked first among all counties and districts in Guangdong Province with a total economic volume of 460 billion yuan (US$72.89 billion).

Five districts in Shenzhen, three districts in Guangzhou and two in Foshan were among the top 10 counties and districts in the GDP ranking for 2017, official statistics showed.

The GDP volumes of Nanshan and Guangzhou’s Tianhe District, which ranked second, each reached the threshold of more than 400 billion yuan.

Longgang District took over Futian to advance to the third place, while Bao’an replaced Huangpu District in Guangzhou to take fifth, the list showed, compared to the ranking in 2016.

Longgang, Tianhe and Bao’an districts took the top three positions in terms of GDP growth rates by reaching 9.8 percent, 9.6 percent and 9.2 percent, respectively.

According to Deng Zhiwang, vice chairman of Shenzhen Economics Society, Guangdong’s counties and districts showed strong advantages over other counties in other provinces if they are considered under the unit statistical standards.

“The GDP volume of Haidian and Chaoyang districts in Beijing in 2017 each exceeded 500 billion yuan, 40 billion yuan higher than that of Nanshan, but considering the land size of Nanshan District, which is less than half of Haidian District, Nanshan’s GDP output per square kilometer was much higher than those of Haidian and Chaoyang districts,” said Deng.

Nanshan District is home to nearly 140 listed companies including industry leading enterprises such as Tencent, ZTE and Mindray. The district has contributed one-fourth of the country’s PCT international patent applications, with a total exceeding 10,000 in 2016.

(Han Ximin)