The Zhejiang Province Development and Reform Commission issued the nation's first provincial social development situation analysis report at the end of last year.

Zhejiang ranked No. 4 nationwide -- following Shanghai, Beijing and Tianjin -- on a comprehensive evaluation index of social development compiled by the National Bureau of Statistics.

The province was also among the front ranks in terms of urban and rural per capita income. Consumers are spending increasing amounts on non-essential goods and services.

Zhejiang has led the country in establishing a provincial general social security system that includes employment, insurance and welfare. Some 520,000 new jobs have cut the registered unemployment rate in urban and rural areas to about 4.2 percent.

Development is accelerating with the completion of the province's transformation from an agriculture-dependent economy to an industrial economy.

More social undertakings are handled cooperatively by government and the private sector, rather than monopolized by government. Social order and control have become more service- and people-oriented.

Output value in 2003 totaled 1.1 trillion yuan (US$136.4 billion), up 14.5 percent from 2002; fixed asset investment rose 20.0 percent to 599 billion yuan (US$72.3 billion); and exports totaled 58 billion yuan (US$7.0 billion), a jump of 39.0 percent.

The report indicates that in some areas vestiges of the old planned economy linger and the reorganization of the social structure lags that of the economy, creating an urgent need for reform in administrative and operational mechanisms. Complaints concerning schools and the availability of doctors are frequent. The report indicates that such problems stem from expectations rising more quickly than the provision of goods or services.

Rural areas continue to lag urban ones in terms of fundamental education, medical care and public health service systems, in situations that are in urgent need of correction.

(China.org.cn by Zhang Tingting, January 11, 2005)