China's gross domestic product rose 6.9 percent in 2015, official data showed Tuesday, as the world’s second-largest economy slumped to its lowest annual expansion rate in a quarter century.

The figure announced by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) was well below the 7.3 percent growth recorded in 2014, but matched the median forecast in an AFP survey of 18 economists.

Expansion also slowed in the fourth quarter of last year, the NBS, declining to 6.8 percent year-on-year, again matching the median forecast in AFP's poll.