Six Charts That Explain China’s Weakening Economy

China’s breakneck economic growth – which lifted incomes at home and reshaped markets abroad – once seemed as inevitable as a law of nature.

That presumption is now being tested. On March 5, China’s government lowered its official 2026 growth target to between 4.5% and 5% — its least ambitious goal since 1991 and a steep comedown from the double-digit expansion of past years.