BEIJING, July 15 (Xinhua) -- China's gross domestic product (GDP) grew 5 percent year on year in the first half of 2024, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Monday.

China's GDP reached around 61.68 trillion yuan (about 8.65 trillion U.S. dollars) in the first half, NBS data showed.

In the second quarter, the country's GDP expanded 4.7 percent year on year, according to the NBS.

"Overall, the national economy has continued to improve in the first half in a stable manner," the NBS said in a statement commenting on the economic performance, citing support from policy incentives, rebound in external demand and development of new quality productive forces.

The second industry expanded 5.8 percent year on year in the first half, outpacing a 3.5-percent increase in primary industry and 4.6 percent in the service sector, according to the NBS.

On a quarterly basis, China's economy expanded 0.7 percent in the second quarter.

Consumption continued to play a major role in driving growth, with final consumption contributing to 60.5 percent of the economic expansion in the first half, contributing 3 percentage points to the GDP growth.

The country's surveyed urban unemployment rate stood at 5.1 percent in the first half of 2024, down 0.2 percentage points from the same period last year.

The bureau said the growth was "hard-won" as the world's second-largest economy had faced a more uncertain, complex and severe external environment as well as new challenges from deepening structural adjustment domestically.

The NBS attributed the weaker second-quarter growth to short-term factors such as extreme weather and floods, but said it also reflected rising challenges, especially from insufficient effective demand and unsmooth economic flow at home.

"But from both a fundamental and a medium to long-term perspective, the economic fundamentals that will sustain long-term growth remain unchanged, and the trend toward high-quality development has not changed," the NBS said, noting that the Chinese economy is still a key engine for global growth.