China’s Income Gap
China’s rich-poor (and urban-rural) divide is looking more and more like the West’s.
August 30, 2013
1. In 2012, the households in the top 5% income bracket earned 23% of China’s total household income.
2. Chinese households in the lowest 5% accounted for just 0.1% of total income in 2012.
3. Average annual income for a Chinese family was 13,000 renminbi, or about $2,100 in 2012.
4. The average amount of income in Shanghai was just over 29,000 renminbi, or $4,700.
5. Average family income in China’s urban areas was about $2,600 in 2012, while it was $1,600 in rural areas.
6. China’s Gini coefficient was 0.49 in 2012, less than the 0.51 in 2010, indicating a slight decrease in inequality. (The Gini coefficient measures the wealth gap with zero being perfect equality.)
From Survey in China Shows A Wide Gap in Income by Edward Wong (New York Times)
Takeaways
China’s Gini coefficient was 0.49 in 2012, less than the 0.51 in 2010, indicating a slight decrease in inequality.
