China's sharing economy market volume up 41.6% in 2018

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China's burgeoning sharing economy grew 41.6 percent year-on-year in 2018 to 2.94 trillion yuan (439 billion U.S. dollars).

In the coming three years, the market value of China's sharing economy will expand by an average rate of 30 percent, according to a report released by the State Information Center, forecasting that the sector's potential on stabilizing employment and boosting consumption would be further unleashed.

The sharing economy has not only become a significant option for people who are self-employed, but also an employment channel for specific social groups.

Drivers of food delivery service Meituan. /VCG Photo

For example, a total of 6.7 percent of drivers for China's ride-hailing company Didi are from registered impoverished households, 12 percent are veterans and more than 21 percent are the sole breadwinner of their families.

Last year, 77 percent of the 2.7 million riders of China's online food delivery services platform Meituan were from rural areas, with 670,000 coming from poverty-stricken counties, according to the report.

From 2015 to 2018, the revenue from the online food delivery sector saw a remarkably average annual growth of 117.5 percent, which was 12.1 times the growth rate in the traditional catering sector, the report said.

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency