China has the fastest growth rate of consumption of any major economy in the world

One of the most stupid economic claims, sometimes recycled even in economic and financial media which should know better, is that China has a slow rate of growth of consumption. On the contrary China has the fastest rate of growth of consumption of any major economy in the world.

The data for the latest 10 year period for which data exists is set out in the table below. Only Russia comes close to matching China’s increase in consumption in that period. China’s rate of growth of consumption is sixty per cent higher than India's, three times as fast as South Korea's and approximately ten times as fast as the main G7 economies.