Meituan, China’s largest provider of on-demand local services, revealed that its 7.45 million delivery workers earned a combined income of 80 billion yuan (approximately US$11.3 billion) from the platform last year, according to its co-founder and CEO Wang Xing.

Wang’s letter also highlighted that Meituan has completed over 300,000 deliveries in key cities, including Shenzhen and Shanghai, utilizing its self-developed drones.

In August, the company announced a revenue rise of 21.2% year-on-year to 82.3 billion yuan for the second quarter, while its profit rose 142% to a record 11 billion yuan. China’s food delivery market stands at US$208 billion.

Separately, around 4.5 million of these workers now have occupational injury insurance, a key measure introduced in a nationwide pilot program for gig-economy jobs that began in 2022.

China’s National Bureau of Statistics reports that around 200 million gig-economy workers have remained steady in the country over the past three years, making up about 23% of the nation’s workforce.