Kaiyang makes West China's top 100 counties, county-level cities list

Kaiyang county in Guiyang, capital of Southwest China's Guizhou province, recently made a list of the top 100 counties and county-level cities in West China in 2021.

Kaiyang ranks 68th on the list, which was jointly released by the Competitiveness Think Tank, China Economic Herald, and Beijing Zhongxin Urban Planning and Design Institute on Sept 23.

The monitoring and evaluation objects of county development in West China are all county units in the 12 western provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities.

The evaluation is based on the economic scale, people's livelihoods, economic vitality, and development quality.

The evaluation report shows that from 2000 to 2020, the comprehensive contribution rate of counties and county-level cities to West China's economic growth was 61 percent.

The GDP of these counties and county-level cities increased from 940 billion yuan ($141.04 billion) to 9.47 trillion yuan over a 20-year period, accounting for half of West China's total economy.

Statistics show that economic and social development and people's living conditions in China's western counties and country-level cities have continued to improve.