Ever since the late 1970s when China began to open up to the rest of the world, Kunming's economy has grown at a healthy and rapid rate. Three decades of development generated by Industries as diverse as tobacco, electromechanical, horticultural, mineral and biological resources, information technology, commerce and tourism continue to provide a stable platform for the ongoing growth and development of Kunming's thriving economy. Kunming has become a major and modern industrial city in China's southwest.

The mushrooming tertiary education industry is now a major contributor to Kunming's economy which broadly consists of trade with the countries of Southeast and South Asia as well as with the rest of China in clothing textiles and foot ware, manufacturing, tourism, Information Technology and a modern service industry all of which have developed rapidly since the late 1970s, and sustain Kunming's economy and society.