China's economic growth has averaged 9.5 percent over the past two decades, and the rapid pace of economic change is likely to be sustained, said the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in its first Economic Survey on China issued Friday.

"These gains have contributed not only to higher personal incomes, but also to a significant reduction in poverty," the OECD said.

"At the same time, the (Chinese) economy has become substantially integrated with the world economy."

"A large part of these gains have come through profound shifts in government policies, and reforms have allowed market prices and private investors to play a significant role in production and trade."

A marked evolution in economic policies over the past two decades has led to a long period of sustained economic expansion, and China's national income has been doubling every eight years and this has been reflected in the reduction of the poverty rate to much lower levels, according to the OECD survey.

"By some accounts, over half of the reduction in absolute poverty in the world between 1980 and 2000 occurred in China."

Considerable challenges face China's economy, not the least of which is a rapid increase in the age of the population, but continued evolution of economic policies, especially in the areas of the allocation of capital, labor mobility, urbanization and the creation of an improved framework for the development of the private sector of the economy, should ensure that this development momentum is sustained, it said.

(Xinhua News Agency September 16, 2005)