This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone. To mark the occasion, we are publishing a series of reports celebrating the city’s achievements in different aspects over the past four decades.

AFTER 40 years of development, Shenzhen’s GDP density reached 1.35 billion yuan (US$191 million) last year, ranking No. 1 in the country.

Shanghai (602 million yuan), Dongguang (385 million yuan), Xiamen (353 million yuan) and Guangzhou (318 million yuan) took second to fifth places.

GDP density, or GDP per square kilometer, is a measure of economic activity by area and it reflects a place’s economic density and vitality.

The city’s GDP density was only 135,000 yuan in 1980 when the special economic zone was established, according to Shenzhen Economic Daily.

The number exceeded 10 million yuan in 1991 and surpassed 100 million yuan for the first time in the year 2000.

According to statistics released by district authorities across the city, the GDP density of each district in the city exceeded 100 million yuan in 2019 except for Shenshan Special Cooperation Zone.

Among the districts, Futian, Nanshan, Luohu, Longhua and Longgang each had a district GDP density over 1 billion yuan in 2019. Futian District ranked No. 1 of all districts in the city.

At the same time, Shenzhen’s energy consumption per unit of GDP ranked the lowest among the country’s major cities.

The city’s energy consumption per unit of GDP fell by 4.2 percent in 2018 while its energy consumption per unit of industrial value decreased by 11.24 percent and electricity consumption per 10,000 yuan of GDP dropped by 3.62 percent.

Additionally, the city’s water consumption in 2019 was 206.2 million cubic meters. Its water consumption per 10,000 yuan of GDP decreased to 7.93 cubic meters, ranking first in the country, official data show.

(Wang Jingli)