GUANGZHOU: The per capita GDP of the capital of Guangdong Province exceeded $10,000 in 2006 if it indeed had only 7.03 million permanent residents.

This would make the South China city the first in the country to reach the benchmark of a developed economy.

Guangzhou's GDP last year was 623.6 billion yuan ($79.94 billion), an increase of 14.4 per cent over 2005.

"Which means Guangzhou's per capita GDP was more than $11,000 in 2006, given the present foreign currency exchange rate and the city's registered permanent residents of 7.03 million," a director of Guangzhou Academy of Social Sciences Peng Peng said.

"Per capita GDP is a more scientific index to measure economic development than GDP. A per capita GDP of more than $10,000 has transformed Guangzhou into a developed city from a developing one."

But the city's municipal authorities seem to have a more conservative attitude towards the per capita GDP figure.
"The city government's target is to have a per capita GDP of more than $10,000 by 2010," Guangzhou Statistics Bureau analyst Feng Jun said.

"The difference lies in what the actual population of the city is," she said. "Many people are not registered as permanent residents for varied reasons. If they are included, Guangzhou's permanent population would rise to 9.94 million."
"In my view, all the permanent population should be taken into account for a fairer calculation of the per capita GDP," she said.

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