Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012, Shanghai has made continuous efforts to establish itself as an international economic center.

The city's GDP reached 5.67 trillion yuan ($814.08 billion) in 2025, the highest among Chinese cities, placing it among the world's top five cities by GDP.

Industrial development

In 2025, the added value of the primary industry amounted to 9.94 billion yuan, the added value of secondary industry reached 1.17 trillion yuan, and the added value of tertiary industry exceeded 4.50 trillion yuan.

Shanghai has optimized the approval, management, and service processes for various fields, streamlined surveying and mapping for engineering and construction projects, and improved the transparency of intermediate service management.

Foreign trade

In 2025, the city's total import and export value increased 5.6 percent year-on-year to 4.51 trillion yuan, setting a new record. The actual utilization of foreign capital amounted to $16.06 billion.

By the end of 2025, the city hosted 1,076 regional headquarters of multinational companies and 636 foreign-invested R&D centers.

Business environment

Since 2018, Shanghai has been updating its business environment reform plan annually, with the ninth such plan released in January 2026.

The plan aims to build a world-class business environment and enhance the sense of gain among enterprises by coming up with 26 detailed measures.

As of Jan 25, 2026, the total number of enterprises in Shanghai reached 3 million, with the number of enterprises per thousand people increasing to 120.98.

The city's innovative practices in areas such as license processing, project approval, and enterprise deregistration have been promoted nationwide, helping China's business environment to rise in global rankings.

Updated: Feb 9, 2026

Sources: Shanghai Municipal Government Work Report, Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Statistics