China to launch thorough and accurate national economic census

Robot waiters serve dishes at a hot pot restaurant in Yunyang County of Chongqing, southwest China, Nov. 1, 2015. [Photo / Xinhua]

China's fourth national economic census will officially kick off on the first day of 2019.

The survey, which will last three months, will cover all businesses involved in the secondary and tertiary industries.

Data on the enterprise's structure, staff wages, financial status, production capacity, energy consumption and research and development activities will be collected.

The census will cover about 30 million impersonal entities and industrial activity units as well as about 60 million self-employed entrepreneurs.

China's fourth national economic census is vital in projecting the new economic situations, particularly the development of new growth drivers, said Ning Jizhe, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission and head of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

"The census would also promote high-quality development of China's economy, and the results could help prevent risks amid China's rapid economic development," said Ning.

Ning also ordered the census organizations and statisticians to abide by regulations, carry out independent investigations and ensure the statistics to be true and accurate.

A total of 2 million census workers will be deployed to nearly 900,000 communities to conduct the survey.

Fresh tools will be used to facilitate the census work. The NBS has opened an account on the most popular Chinese video-sharing app Douyin, also known as TikTok, to make the census more accessible to the public.

China has implemented three national economic censuses so far, which were conducted in 2004, 2008 and 2013.