An aerial drone photo taken on Sept. 16, 2025 shows a market set up next to the Zhuji city basketball center in Taozhu Street of Zhuji, east China's Zhejiang Province. (Xinhua/Xu Yu)

Beijing - China's value-added service output went up 5.4 percent year on year in the first three quarters of 2025, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Monday.

In this period, the service sector accounted for 58.4 percent of China's gross domestic product, up 0.8 percentage points year on year, and contributed 60.7 percent to the country's economic growth.

The index gauging the country's service industry output rose 5.6 percent year on year in September, maintaining rapid growth, said Peng Yongtao, an official with the NBS.

The modern service industry expanded vigorously in the first three quarters, said Peng. The value-added output of information transmission, software and IT service sectors increased 11.2 percent, while that of leasing and business services expanded 9.2 percent year on year.

A surge in demand for tourism and leisure activities fueled strong growth in service consumption over the summer, Peng added. Online travel service providers saw their e-commerce transaction value increase by over 20 percent in the first three quarters.

In the first three quarters, retail sales in the service sector rose 5.2 percent year on year, outpacing the growth rate of goods retail sales by 0.6 percentage points.

Data also showed that multiple industries experienced high levels of business activity in September, including postal services, telecommunications, broadcasting and satellite transmission, as well as the monetary and financial services sectors.

Peng noted that the service sector, in general, demonstrated stable operation and continued quality improvement in the first three quarters, while headwinds persist from a complex external environment and insufficient domestic demand.

Moving ahead, efforts should focus on increasing the supply of high-quality services, cultivating new growth points in the service sector, and stimulating the vitality of business entities to foster the sector's healthy development, Peng said.