Ningbo's gross domestic product (GDP) rose 6.38 percent year-on-year to 1.1985 trillion yuan ($173.69 billion) in 2019, according to the Ningbo Bureau of Statistics.

The economic output of the city's Yinzhou district was 221.1 billion yuan, accounting for nearly 20 percent of the city's total.

The district's industrial added value surged 7 percent to 44.22 billion yuan last year, and emerging industries such as fashion, medical care, and the digital economy have become new engines behind its economic growth.

Fixed asset investment in the district saw a rise of 14.8 percent, and more than 74 percent of industrial investment was used to promote technological upgrading. This is 10.1 percentage points higher than the city's average. 

Meanwhile, foreign trade in the district was valued at 169.88 billion yuan, more than any other district in the city. China-Base Ningbo Group, based in the district, was responsible for the most foreign trade of any company in Ningbo. 

Lin Chengliang, executive deputy dean of the business school of the Ningbo Institute of Technology affiliated with Zhejiang University, said that in the future Ningbo and China would not only be the world's factory, but also a procurement base, and that the high-quality development of the manufacturing sector is underpinned by corresponding service sectors.

In 2019, the added value of Yinzhou's tertiary industry was 155.44 billion yuan, up 7.5 percent year-on-year and accounting for 70.3 percent of its total economic output. 

By the end of last year, a total of 278 financial institutions had set up operations in the district, with the balance of deposits in local and foreign currencies valued at 720.33 billion yuan, up 14 percent year-on-year. The premium income of insurance companies reached a value of 8.75 billion yuan, up 26.1 percent. 

The district has also emerged as a magnet for global talent. It reported an increase of 87,000 in its permanent population in 2019, a larger increase than even Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province. 

In addition, its per capita GDP reached $22,700, more than double the national average and on par with the world's high-income economies. The per capita disposable income of urban residents reached 70,074 yuan, up 8.0 percent year on year and about 10,000 yuan higher than the provincial average. This puts the city on par with major cities like Shanghai and Beijing.