China's central leadership will convene in October to deliberate a comprehensive plan for development over the next five years (2016-2020).

Economic restructuring will remain one of the major issues as China continues to shift from an investment-driven economy to one led by innovation and services.

Following are some facts and figures about signs of changes in the country's economic structure from 2011 to 2015, or the period of China's 12th Five-year Plan.


-- GROWTH

China's GDP expansion rate was 9.3 percent in 2011, 7.7 percent in 2012, 7.7 percent in 2013, and 7.3 percent in 2014.

For the first half of 2015, the economy grew by 7 percent. The annual target set by the government is "around 7 percent".

-- SERVICES

The service sector accounted for 49.5 percent of GDP in the first half of 2015, rising from 39.2 percent in 2010.

-- INVESTMENT

Fixed assets investment growth dropped to 15.7 percent in 2014 from 23.8 percent in 2010. The figure declined further to 11.4 percent in the first half of 2015.

The decrease was mainly caused by the phasing out of outdated industrial production capacity. Investment in railway and other sectors related to people's livelihood remained stable over the last five years.

-- CONSUMPTION

Retail sales of consumer goods grew from 15.5 trillion yuan (about 2.4 trillion US dollars) in 2010 to 26.2 trillion yuan in 2014.

Retail sales grew 10.4 percent to 14.2 trillion yuan in the January-June period of 2015. Consumption accounted for 60 percent of GDP growth in the first half of the year, 13.1 percentage points higher than in 2010.

In particular, new consumption models such as online shopping accounted for nearly 10 percent of overall retail sales this year, and consumption in tourism and health care are expected to rise at a faster pace as society prospers.

-- INNOVATION

Research and development (R&D) expenditure nearly doubled from 706.3 billion yuan in 2010 to more than 1.3 trillion yuan in 2014.

Patent applications increased at an explosive speed from 1.2 million in 2010 to nearly 2.4 million in 2014.

-- ENTREPRENEURSHIP

On the back of robust innovation, a start-up boom has taken place. In the first half of 2015, newly established enterprises had total registered capital of 12 trillion yuan, up 43 percent from a year earlier.

-- EXPORTS

China's export growth continued to slow over the last five years due to faltering global economic recovery. Exports of railway-related equipment, however, surged from 8.4 billion yuan in 2010 to 26.8 billion yuan in 2014.

-- ENERGY INTENSITY

As the economy is becoming "smarter," energy consumption per unit of GDP dropped 13.4 percent by 2014 from the 2010 level.

In the first half of 2015, energy consumption per unit of GDP went down 5.9 percent year on year, in line with China's "green" drive.