BEIJING, Dec. 2 -- China will conduct its fifth national economic census in 2023 to take stock of the country's economic and social development, the State Council said in a recent notice.

Preparation will be the central task in 2023, while registration will be organized in 2024.

DATA INSIGHT

The census takes place every five years. It comprehensively investigates the developing scale, layout, and efficiency of China's secondary and tertiary industries to grasp the basic situation of the country's various units.

It will help provide scientific and accurate statistical information for improving macroeconomic governance and scientifically formulating medium and long-term development plans.

The notice emphasized data quality, calling for efforts to ensure that the census data is true, accurate, complete, and reliable.

COMPREHENSIVE SURVEY

The census involves all legal entities, industrial activity units, and self-employed households engaged in secondary and tertiary industry activities in China.

The main content of the census includes the basic information, organizational structure, personnel wages, production capacity, financial status, production management, energy production and consumption, R&D, IT development, and e-commerce transactions, as well as the structure of the input, the use of products and the composition of fixed assets investment.

The census will combine online reporting with on-site data collection via handheld electronic terminals.

KILL TWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONE

Unlike previous censuses, the upcoming national economic census will simultaneously carry out an input-output survey.

As a large-scale campaign to systematically reflect the economic relations among industries in the economy, the input-output survey shares similar procedures, content, and objects with the national economic census.

The concurrent surveys will improve statistical coordination, cut content overlaps, and achieve a better data connection between economics aggregates and structure.