China grew at its slowest rate in 24 years in 2014, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday.

The economy expanded by 7.3 percent in the last quarter of the year, and 7.4 percent for the full year. Although that kind of growth would be welcomed by most countries, it falls short of the Chinese government’s target of 7.5 percent for the year. The last time growth dipped below that level was in 1990, although growth was much slower that year, at 3.8 percent.

Few economists were surprised by the slowdown. Even the country’s senior leaders have said they were comfortable with slower, steadier growth, and its president, Xi Jinping, even coined a term for this new slowdown: the “new normal.”

“Yes, China’s economy is slowing, but it’s a natural slowdown after 30 years of rapid growth,” Tao Wang, a China economist at UBS, said. “It still makes China the largest contributor to GDP growth in the world.”