Over 40 years of reform and opening-up, China has experienced an unprecedented growth, transforming from a relatively poor country to the world's second-largest economy and the largest trader in goods. However, it still has a long way to go before it becomes a "developed economy". Xinhua comments:

It is hard to believe China is a developing country if one has only seen its metropolises. But its growth has been unbalanced and further inland, things look completely different. In the country's rural areas, many people still struggle to get by.

Although the anti-poverty campaign has lifted more than 68 million people out of poverty over the past five years alone, over 30 million Chinese, the equivalent of half of France's total population, were still living below the poverty line last year. And many of those who have risen out of extreme poverty still struggle to meet their basic daily needs.

China faces the same problems that other developing countries do and it still lacks enough public services.

Assessing GDP per capita is the customary way to determine whether a country is developed or not. Last year, China's GDP per capita was just over $8,800, less than the world average of $10,000, and just one-seventh the GDP per capita of the United States.

For a country to be considered developed, its GDP per capita should be higher than $12,700 dollars and to be considered a highly developed nation it should be more than $40,000.

China still falls well below that mark.