BEIJING—China’s gross domestic product rose 8.1% in 2021 from a year earlier, accelerating from the 2.2% growth rate in coronavirus-ravaged 2020, official data showed Monday.

Though the result was in line with forecasts among economists polled by The Wall Street Journal, performance was sharply skewed between the first and second halves of the year.

Momentum...

BEIJING—China’s gross domestic product rose 8.1% in 2021 from a year earlier, accelerating from the 2.2% growth rate in coronavirus-ravaged 2020, official data showed Monday.

Though the result was in line with forecasts among economists polled by The Wall Street Journal, performance was sharply skewed between the first and second halves of the year.

Momentum slowed considerably in the final three months of the year. China’s GDP grew just 4.0% in the fourth quarter compared with a year earlier, better than forecasts for 3.8% growth but lower than the 4.9% expansion recorded in the third quarter, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics.

In quarter-on-quarter terms, China’s economy rose 1.6% in the final three months of the year, accelerating from the July-to-September quarter’s 0.7% growth, the statistics bureau said.

China late last year revised its 2020 GDP growth figure to 2.2%, from 2.3%.

—Grace Zhu