Employees assemble products in Quzhou County, Handan City of north China's Hebei Province, Dec. 15, 2020. (Photo: Xinhua)

The number of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in China reached 48 million by the end of 2021, a 2.7-fold increase over the past decade, the People’s Daily reported on Friday, citing official data released at a media conference held by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

The rapid and sound development of small- and medium-sized enterprises has made important contributions to overall economic and social development, according to Liang Zhifeng, an official from the ministry.

In 2021, the average operating income profit margin of small industrial firms above designated size in China reached 6.2 percent, 0.9 percentage points higher than that at the end of 2012, boasting a number of new technologies, new industries, new business forms and new models, data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology showed.

These "little giant" firms contribute 79.4 percent of all enterprise employees nationwide, according to the report.

(Compiled by Sun Aini, edited by Yang Yang)