BEIJING — China's economy posted stable growth in 2021 despite challenges including epidemic resurgences and a complicated external environment, official data showed on Jan 17.

The country's gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 8.1 percent year-on-year to 114.37 trillion yuan (about $18 trillion) last year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said.

The pace was well above the government target of "above 6 percent," and put the two-year average growth at 5.1 percent, the data showed.

In the fourth quarter, the country's GDP expanded 4 percent year-on-year.

China's economy has continued stable recovery in 2021, leading the world in both economic development and epidemic control, the NBS said, while warning of the triple pressure of demand contraction, supply shocks and weakening expectations amid an increasingly complicated external environment.