Are China GDP Growth Numbers Real or Phony ?

World Bank figures have given China a double-digit growth in the last quarter of 2009 - 10.7 per cent to be precise - which puts it on course to overtake Japan as the second-largest economy in the world, after the US.

Mansoor Dailami, the manager of international finance in the World Bank's development economics branch, told Al Jazeera: "China's economy has been growing very rapidly since the end of the recession.

"But the problem is that the country has a huge population with significant diversity between different regions but they still have a long way to go to catch up with the more advanced countries."

Dailami said: "Basically, 2010 is going to be a year of economic recovery compared to 2009 yet there are some concerns in regards to the pace and dynamism of this recovery and what it takes for things to continue moving forward from 2010 into 2011."

However, China's large population means there are still millions of people who are not experiencing the positive effects of their country's economic boom.

Al Jazeera's Melissa Chan reports.