BEIJING, July 2 (Xinhua) -- China's economy has accelerated over the past seven decades, with gross domestic product rising at an average annual rate of 8.1 percent, according to a report from the National Bureau of Statistics.

China's GDP hit 90.03 trillion yuan (about 13.14 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2018, accounting for 16 percent of the world's total. This posed a sharp contrast to the country's economy in 1952 when its GDP was only 67.9 billion yuan.

From 1979 to 2018, China's economy grew by 9.4 percent annually on average, much higher than the world's average economic growth of 2.9 percent. China's economic growth has contributed around 18 percent to the global economic growth during the period, second only to the United States.

Gross national income per person reached 9,732 U.S. dollars in 2018, higher than the level seen in middle-income countries.

The report also showed that China's fiscal strength improved remarkably and foreign exchange reserves soared during the past seven decades.

Fiscal revenues leaped to 18.34 trillion yuan last year, compared with 6.2 billion yuan in 1950 and 113.2 billion yuan in 1978.

Forex reserves reached 3.07 trillion U.S. dollars at the end of 2018, topping the world for the 13th straight year. By contrast, China's forex reserves stood at 108 million dollars at the end of 1952.