The recent publication of China's and the United States' 2014 GDP results has allowed a comparison of the growth of the world's two largest economies, resolving discussion of their relative economic performance with facts and highlighting serious misanalysis of China's economic development in parts of the media.

Taking first the objective data:

· In 2014 China's economy grew by 7.4 percent and the U.S. economy by 2.4 percent (see Figure 1). China's economy therefore grew more than three times as fast as the U.S.

China's GDP increased from 58.8 trillion RMB in 2013 to 63.6 trillion in 2014, i.e., by 4.8 trillion RMB. In dollar terms this was $780 billion measured at the exchange rate of Dec. 31, 2014, and $785 billion at 2014's average exchange rate. The US added $653 billion to GDP. China therefore added approximately $130 billion more to world output than the U.S. at market prices. This is shown in Figure 2.