湖北省情与经济社会发展情况
湖北地处中国中部、长江中游，国土面积18.59万平方公里，人口6100万。现设12个省辖市、1个自治州、3个直管市、一个林区，21个县级市、40个县。
经济区位优越。湖北承东启西，连南接北，通江达海，得“中”独厚，京广、京九铁路纵贯南北，京珠、沪蓉高速纵横交错。以武汉为圆心，在1200公里半径范围内，涵盖了中国70%的大中城市。以武广高铁建成运营为标志，湖北率先进入高铁时代，武汉新港成为长江中上游第一个亿吨大港，武汉与长三角、珠三角形成3小时经济圈，湖北正由区域性“九省通衢”发展成为全局性的“九州通衢”。2014年，全年完成生产总值2.7万亿元人民币（合4350亿美元），增长9.7%，增速居全国第七位。人均国民生产总值达7600美元。至2014年止，赴鄂投资兴业的世界500强企业达228家(境外159家).
资源要素富集。长江黄金水道流经湖北境内1061公里，省内湖泊密布，水网纵横，素有“千湖之省”，有大小河流4000余条，总长达6万余公里，水资源富集，已开发和正在开发的水电装机居全国第一位，其中三峡工程发电量居世界各大水电站之首。现已发现的矿藏有138种，其中磷、石膏、岩盐等储量居全国前列。
文化历史悠久。湖北是中华文明的发源地之一，是楚文化的发祥地。湖北是全国旅游资源较为丰富的省份之一，山水名胜与文化古迹兼备，拥有长江三峡、武当山、神农架、楚文化等世界级品牌。华夏始祖炎帝神农氏出生于湖北随州。此外，三国时期，湖北境内还是众多历史事件的发生地。湖北首府武汉是辛亥革命的发源地。
产业基础坚实。湖北有“鱼米之乡”的美誉，是全国重要的商品粮棉油生产基地和最大的淡水产品生产基地。湖北工业基础雄厚，综合配套能力强，是全国重要的汽车工业基地和钢铁工业基地，现已形成以汽车、钢铁、石化、电子信息、食品、纺织服装、装备制造等产业为支撑的现代工业体系。
科教实力雄厚。湖北是中国第三大教育中心，是国内重要的基础研究和高新技术研究基地，在激光、光电子信息、生物工程、新材料等领域居领先地位，现有高等院校120多所，在校大学生超过130万，有62位两院院士，东湖高新区是全国第二个自主创新示范区。
城市活力强劲。省会武汉是我国历史文化名城、中部地区中心城市，历史上曾有仅次于上海的我国第二大对外通商口岸。武汉和周边8个城市构成的“1+8”武汉城市圈，被批准为国家“两型”社会建设综合配套改革试验区，不仅是湖北产业和生产要素最密集、最具活力的地区，也是中西部地区最具潜力的区域之一。以武汉为中心，襄阳、宜昌为副中心的“一主两副”城市化发展格局正在形成。湖北既具有后发地区资源丰富、环境容量较大和生产要素成本较低的优势，又具有发达地区的工业基础、科教实力和交通优势，多重优势叠加，比较优势凸显。
About Hubei: Basic Information and Economic and Social Development
Located in Central China and at the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, Hubei covers a total area of 18.59 km2 with a population of 61 million. It has 12 municipalities under the direct administration of the province, 1 autonomous prefecture, 3 counties under the direct administration of the province, three sub-prefecture-level cities, one forestry district, 21 county-level cities and 40 counties.
Unique geographical advantages for developing its economy in Central China. With Beijing-Zhuhai Expressway and Shanghai-Chengdu Expressway stretching from east to west, and Beijing-Guangzhou Railway and Beijing-Kowloon Railway passing through from north to south, and easy access to the Yangtze River and the sea, Hubei enjoys exceptional advantages in transportation. As the Wuhan-Guangzhou High-Speed Railway is open to traffic and the age of high-speed rail comes, a three-hour economic circle centered on Wuhan with the radius of 1,200 km has taken shape, covering 70% of large and medium-sized cities, together with two large economic circles, i.e. the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta. Wuhan New Port has become the first port with a handling capacity of 100 million tons at the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze River. With such a unique position, Hubei is turning itself from a regional “Gateway to Nine Provinces” to a national “Gateway to the Whole Country”. In 2014, its GDP reached 2.7 trillion RMB ($ 435 billion), increased by 9.7%, ranking the 7th nationwide. And the per capita GDP was $7,600. According to the statistics by 2014, 228 of the Fortune 500 Companies (including 159 overseas companies) have established their presence here.
Abundant resources. The Yangtze River, known as “the Golden Waterway”, flows 1,061 km traversing Hubei from west to east. Hubei, decorated with lakes and rivers, has more than 4,000 rivers of different sizes, with their lengths totaling 60,000 km, thus giving it the name, “A Province with One Thousand Lakes”. Rich water resources enable the installed capacity developed or under development rank top nationwide, with the generating capacity of the Three Gorges Project outranking other hydropower stations worldwide. Hubei boasts rich mineral resources, among which 138 kinds have already been discovered. The reserves of phosphorus, gypsum and rock salt are among the top in China.
Time-honored history and profound culture. Hubei is one of the places where Chinese civilization originated and is the birthplace of Chu Culture. It possesses abundant tourism resources featuring with beautiful landscapes and places of historic and cultural interests, and world-class tourism brands including the Three Gorges, the Wudang Mountain, Shennongjia Forest District, Chu Culture and so on. Emperor Yan, the ancestor of the Chinese people, was born in Suizhou, Hubei. The province witnessed many important historic events of the Three Kingdoms Period. Wuhan, the capital city, is the place where the 1911 Revolution began.
Solid industrial foundation. Crowned as a “land of fish and rice”, it is one of the key production bases for commodity grain, cotton and oil, and the largest manufacturing base for freshwater products. Thanks to the firm foundation and comprehensive supporting strength, Hubei serves as an important base for auto industry and iron & steel industry, thus forming a modern industrial system supported by auto industry, iron & steel industry, petrochemical industry, electronic information industry, food industry, textile industry, equipment manufacturing industry has taken shape.
Strengths in science and education. As the third largest education center in China, it is also a major base for fundamental researches, and new and hi-tech researches, leading the fields in laser, optoelectronics information, bioengineering, and new materials. There are over 120 institutions of higher learning with more than 1.3 million college students and about 62 fellows of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering. In addition, Wuhan East Lake Hi-tech Development Zone is the second Independent Innovation Demonstration Zone nationwide.
Great vitality. As a noted historic and cultural city, and the central city in central China, Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province, used to have a foreign trade port second only to Shanghai. The Greater Wuhan Metropolitan Area, composed of Wuhan and eight surrounding cities, has been approved as a pilot zone where comprehensive supporting reforms for the building of a resource-conserving and environmental-friendly society take place, making it the most resource-rich area full of vitality, as well as one of the regions with the greatest potential in central and western China. An urban development pattern featuring with one provincial center of Wuhan city and two provincial sub-centers of Xiangyang city and Yichang city is taking shape. Hubei enjoys multiple comparative advantages. For instance, it is not only endowed with abundant resources, huge environmental capacity and relatively low factor costs as the developing regions, but with solid industrial base, strength in science and education, and convenient transportation as the developed areas.
