China's digital economy is predicted to create over 400 million jobs by 2035, a new report has said.

Internet-based economy could be worth $16 trillion by then, according to a Boston Consulting Group report, released at a new economy summit sponsored by Alibaba Group on January 7.

Alibaba, China's biggest online trader, is expected to generate over 100 million of those jobs, according to the report, with 30 million created last year.

As jobs are created, digital technology like cloud computing and artificial intelligence will replace more and more manpower, the report said.

Meanwhile, 20 percent of the world's population will become self-employed or freelance via the Internet in the next decade, Alibaba Vice President Gao Hongbing said at the summit.

The digital economy will surpass the manufacturing sector in scale and account for a quarter of the world's economy, Gao said.

(Xinhua News Agency January 8, 2017)