A view of Rugao, a county-level city in Nantong, East China's Jiangsu province. [Photo/WeChat account: rugaofabu]

Rugao, a county-level city in Nantong, East China's Jiangsu province, ranked 26th in the 2022 report of the top 100 counties in China for development potential, moving up three places compared with last year, local media reported on Aug 22.

By the end of 2021, there were 1,866 counties in China, accounting for about 90 percent of the country's land area and 52.5 percent and 38.3 percent of the Chinese mainland's population and GDP, respectively.

Human resources, economic vitality, development characteristics and living environment were among the indicators used to evaluate counties for the report.

Rugao's GDP totaled 141 billion yuan ($20.58 billion) in 2021, and its general public budget revenue reached 7.78 billion yuan, up 9 percent and 8 percent, respectively, making it the 16th and 21st county in terms of economic aggregate and overall strength.

Last year, Rugao added 47 new high-tech enterprises, two potential unicorn enterprises and five gazelle enterprises.

Meanwhile, 35 kilometers of urban roads and 29 bridges were rebuilt in 2021, and a total of 180,000 square meters of old residential areas were renovated, benefiting 2,600 households.

In the first half of this year, Rugao's GDP reached 75.54 billion yuan, up 2.6 percent year-on-year and the highest in Nantong.