in GDP, whereas the average economic growth in the whole province was around 15%. In 2007, the total GDP of the four cities in eastern Guangdong was 210.748 billion yuan, accounting for 6.56% of the total GDP of the Province.

In 2023, the total GDP of Guangdong province was 13.57 trillion yuan while the GDP of Shantou, one of the first four special economic zones opened to the outside world, was only 315.83 billion