General Economy

Gross domestic product (GDP)

GDP for 2005 was 382.277 billion yuan, up 21.6% from the previous year. The per capita GDP stood at 16,026 yuan (US$1,986)

GDP ratio (primary, secondary and tertiary industries)

The primary industry yielded a value added of 60.009 billion yuan, 12.7% more than that of the previous year; the secondary industry, 168.513 billion yuan, a growth of 29%; the tertiary industry, 153.755 billion yuan, a growth of 17.9%. The GDP ratio of the three sectors was 15.7 : 44.1 : 40.2.

Revenue and expenditure

Regional revenue was 53.629 billion yuan, an increase of 43.6% over the previous year. Regional expenditure was 73.471 billion yuan, a growth of 21.9%.

Consumer price index (CPI)

CPI was up 2.4% from the previous year.

Investment in fixed assets

Fixed asset investment was valued at 268.784 billion yuan, up 48.6% from the previous year.

Major Industries

Agriculture

In 2005, the agricultural added value was 60.009 billion yuan, an increase of 12.7% from the previous year.

Industry

The industrial added value totaled 139.089 billion yuan, an increase of 30.3%.

Construction

Its added value was 29.424 billion yuan.

Transportation

Freight carried by various means of transport for the year was 19.3% up from the previous year to reach 730.819 million tons, which included 220.599 million tons by railway, up 18.9%; 510.2 million tons by highway, up 19.5%; and 20,000 tons by airway, up 11.1%.

The number of passengers carried by various means of transport was 10.9% up to reach 321.138 million persons, which included 32.588 million persons by railway, up 0.7%; 286.04 million persons by highway, up 12.1%; and 2.51 million persons by airway, up 20.4%.

Postal services

The annual turnover of postal operations totaled 890 million yuan, 3.5% up from the previous year.

Telecommunications

The annual turnover of telecom services was 26.72 billion yuan, 19.5% up from 2004.

At the end of 2005, the number of fixed line subscribers reached 5.34 million, an increase of 6.4% from 2004; and the number of mobile phone subscribers reached 7.04 million, an increase of 18.4%. The Internet users numbered 1.08 million, up 30.9%.

Retail

The annual turnover from retail sales reached 134.41 billion yuan, an increase of 15.8% from the previous year.

Tourism

Revenue from domestic tourism totaled 17.972 billion yuan, up 44.8%. Foreign exchange earnings from the tourism sector totaled US$352 million, up 39.1%.

Continued Effects of Market Reform

Imports & exports

The annual value of imports and exports totaled US$5.162 billion, an increase of 27.5% from the previous year. Of this figure, US$2.065 billion was from exports, up 22.8%, while US$3.097 billion was from imports, up 30.8%.

Economic and technological cooperation

Overseas project and labor contracts signed during the year were valued at US$180 million, down by 67.8% from 2004. Business turnover for the year totaled US$61 million, up 0.3% from 2004.

Foreign investment

Foreign direct investment realized in monetary terms was US$1.186 billion, up 89% from the year before.

Social Undertakings

Science and technology

Various technological contracts signed during the year totaled 1,160, and were valued at 1.099 billion yuan.

Education

There were 33 institutions of higher learning at the year-end, a growth of 2 from the 2004 figure. The number of students enrolled in postgraduate schools and institutions of higher learning during the year stood at 2,965 and 70,900 respectively.

Culture

The region had a total of 110 professional performing organizations, 102 cultural centers, 140 archives, 31 museums and 109 public libraries.

About 92.64% and 90.15% of the provincial population respectively had access to various radio and TV programs. The cable TV subscribers numbered 1.985 million at the year-end.

Public health

There were a total of 3,774 medical and healthcare institutions equipped with 69,400 beds and staffed with 102,600 medical professionals and technicians at the year-end. 12 counties (banners) began to pilot the new rural cooperative medical service program which covered a total of 2.05 million of rural population at the year-end.

Sports

Athletes from the region won 96 prizes in both international and national competitions.

Welfare and aid

Various welfare units across the region were equipped with 24,800 beds and put up 17,500 homeless and vagrant people. There were 7,495 urban community service facilities at the year-end. The funds raised through selling welfare lottery totaled 192.98 million yuan in 2005. Public donations totaled 28.76 million yuan.

Population, Employment, Social Security and Living Standards

Population

The year 2005 saw births of 240,400, or a birth rate of 10.08‰, and deaths of 130,200, or a mortality rate of 5.46‰. The natural growth rate of the population stood at 4.62‰. At the end of the year, the total population stood at 23.864 million.

Employment

The employed urban population stood at 2.428 million at the end of 2005, a reduction of 2,500 from the previous year-end. A total of 139,000 laid-off workers got re-employed during the year.

Registered unemployment rate

The registered urban unemployment rate was 4.26%.

Social security

By the end of 2005, insurance plans for endowments, unemployment and medical treatment had covered a population of 3.387 million, 2.223 million, and 2.92 million respectively. About 756,300 urban residents received minimum living allowances from the government.

Residents' income

The disposable income of urban residents was 9,137 yuan per capita, up 10.3% from 2004. Rural residents' per capita net income was 2,989 yuan, a growth of 10.5% from the previous year.

Residents' consumption

Urban residents' per capita expenditure was 6,229 yuan, up 11.4% from the previous year while that of rural residents was 2,446 yuan, up 17.5%.

Geography and Natural Conditions

Elevation extremes

Besides hills, plains, deserts, rivers and lakes, Inner Mongolia has plateau landforms, mostly over 1,000 meters above sea level, including the Inner Mongolia Plateau, the second largest among the four major plateaus in the country.

Climate

Inner Mongolia has a temperate continental climate. There, spring is warm and windy; summer is short and hot with many rainy days; autumn usually sees early frost and plummeting temperature; winter is long, bitter cold with frequent polar outbreaks. The region has an annual precipitation of 100-500 mm, 80-150 frost-free days, and 2,700 hours of sunshine. The Greater Hinggan Mountains and the Yinshan Mountains divide the regions into areas with different climate. The area east of the Greater Hinggan Mountains and north of the Yinshan Mountains has lower temperature and less precipitation than the opposite area.

Natural resources

Animals and plants:
Inner Mongolia has 2,351 species of plants including vegetation of arbors, shrubs and herbs. It is home to 117 species of wild animals and 362 species of birds, 49 species of them under state and regional protection and 10 precious and rare.

Hydropower:
Inner Mongolia has water resources of 90.3 billion cubic meters, of which 67.5 billion is surface water. Nearly 1,000 rivers run in the region, 107 rivers averaging a valley area of more than 1,000 square km each. Moreover, 1,000 lakes dot the region, eight of them with an area of over 100 square km each. Inner Mongolia boasts mineral water and springs with medical value. It has a total water area of 984,300 hectares including 655,000 hectares of fresh water, which accounts for 10.68% of the country's total fresh water area.

Forests, grasslands, and cultivated land:
The region has 7.22 million hectares of cultivated land, or 6.11% of the country's total, 86.67 million hectares of grasslands, or 73.3% of the country's total, and 18.67 million hectares of forests, 15.8% of the country's total.

Minerals:
More than 120 kinds of minerals of the world's total 140 kinds have been found in the region, five of which have the largest deposits in China and 65 of which rank among the top ten of their kinds in the country. The reserves of rare earth amount to 84.59 million tons, or 80% of the world's total and over 90% of the country's total. The proven deposits of coal hit 224.75 billion tons, the second largest in the country. The region has large reserves of ferrous metals, non-ferrous metals, precious metals, and industrial chemicals, and non-metal minerals. It also has abundant oil and natural gas and 13 large oil and gas fields have been discovered with expected oil reserves of 2-3 billion tons and gas reserves of 1,000 billion cubic meters. The minerals (excluding oil and natural gas) in the region have a potential value of 13,000 billion yuan (US$1,570 billion), accounting for 10% of the country's total volume and ranking as the third largest in the country.

Tourism resources

Inner Mongolia is rich in tourist attractions: Colorful ethnic culture, grassland scenery, the virgin forests in the Greater Hinggan Mountains, grand views along the Yellow River, the majestic Xiangsha Gulf, rivers and lakes, and springs. Inner Mongolia is home to the Mausoleum of Genghis Khan, the Zhaojun Tomb, ancient Great Wall, Wudang Monastery at the bottom of the Yinshan Mountains, Wuta Monastery, Bailing Temple, and tomb murals dating back to the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220).