China’s general digital score was 70.9 in 2017, up 1.7 and 3 percent from 2016 and 2015, respectively, reflecting a booming digital economy, according to the latest Digital China Development Index 2018.

Last year, China’s digital economy contributed over 27 trillion yuan ($4.3 trillion) to the overall economy, accounting for one-third of total GDP, said the document released over the weekend by the Digital China Institute at the National Information Center (NIC).

Meanwhile, the sector has created 170 million jobs, more than one-fifth of the total employees in China.

To record China’s digitalization more accurately, NIC built a corporate operation database covering 80 million companies and individual businesses as well as another database covering 800 million internet netizens’ opinions and actions online.

Furthermore, NIC said the center will develop a big data visualization platform, called the Digital China Map, covering such information as industry operations, talent development, investment projects and consumer actions, and the center also plans to establish the Digital China Development Fund to support development of the digital economy in China.