Guangdong leads China with more than 20m market entities

Guangdong province in South China continues to demonstrate strong economic vitality, with over 20 million registered market entities, maintaining its position as the country's market leader.

The provincial capital, Guangzhou, is a key contributor, hosting 4.22 million active market entities, up 16 percent from a year ago. This growth makes it the second-largest city in China by number of market entities.

The city's expansion is particularly strong in strategic and emerging industries. Notably, the low-altitude economy and aerospace sectors experienced a 161.7 percent increase in new registrations, artificial intelligence grew by 109 percent, and fashion consumer goods rose by 100.9 percent, according to data from the Guangzhou Market Supervision Bureau.

Future industries also thrived, with registrations in future networks and quantum technology jumping by 243.4 percent, deep-sea and aerospace by 160.2 percent, and intelligent unmanned systems by 122.5 percent.

Meanwhile, Shenzhen, another vital city in Guangdong, recorded nearly 4.6 million registered business entities by September 2025, marking a 5.3 percent increase and maintaining its top national ranking, data from the city's market supervision bureau showed.

With Guangzhou and Shenzhen at the forefront, Guangdong naturally leads the nation in the total number of market entities.

According to the Guangdong Provincial Market Supervision Bureau, the province had nearly 20.02 million registered market entities by early September 2025. This marks a net increase of 953,100 since the end of 2024, reflecting a 5 percent growth and comprising one-tenth of China's total market entities.

The province's registered enterprises have exceeded 9 million, with a business-to-individual ratio of 0.83:1.

This business-to-individual ratio is a critical indicator of economic organization and modernization. A higher ratio indicates a more structured and modern economic framework.

"This reflects the quality behind the 20 million entities," said Lin Jiang, an economics professor at Sun Yat-sen University's Lingnan College. "As we reach this scale, focusing on the quality of market entities is crucial for Guangdong's future development."