China's economy posted stable growth in 2021 despite challenges including sporadic epidemic resurgences and a complicated external environment, official data showed Monday.

The country's gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 8.1 percent year on year to 114.37 trillion yuan (about 18 trillion U.S. dollars) last year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said.

The pace was well above the government target of "above 6 percent," and put the two-year average growth at 5.1 percent, the data showed.

In the fourth quarter, the country's GDP expanded 4 percent year on year.

China's economy has continued stable recovery in 2021, leading the world in both economic development and epidemic control, the NBS said, while warning of the triple pressure of demand contraction, supply shocks and weakening expectations amid an increasingly complicated external environment.

Final consumption contributed 65.4 percent to the GDP expansion, while net exports contributed 20.9 percent, said NBS head Ning Jizhe at a press conference.

"China's growth was among the fastest in major economies in the world last year," said Ning, adding that the country's GDP is expected to account for more than 18 percent of the global total.

In breakdown, retail sales saw a notable recovery, jumping 12.5 percent year on year. Fixed-asset investment posted stable growth of 4.9 percent, while value-added industrial output expanded 9.6 percent from a year earlier.

The country's job market remained generally stable, with the surveyed urban unemployment rate standing at 5.1 percent, 0.5 percentage points lower than the same period in the previous year and meeting the government target of "below 5.5 percent."

The Chinese people are getting increasingly affluent in 2021, with per capita disposable income standing at 35,128 yuan, up 9.1 percent year on year in nominal terms.