Big trouble in rural China: Data reveals greater the wealth gap the higher the crime rate, and Hong Kong is feeling the effects
An ageing population and the lack of a social safety net are driving some from poorer provinces to break the law, including in HK
A growing wealth gap, an ageing population and the lack of a social safety net could be driving crime in some of China's poorest areas.
Hong Kong has been hit by a spate of high-profile robberies and kidnapping cases, and many of the suspects hailed from Wengan county in Guizhou, one of China's poorest provinces and home to "Guizhou gangs".
A South China Morning Post investigation in Wengan found that beneath an apparent economic boom, the county is grappling with social problems. Left-behind children, elderly people without support and a mentality of searching for quick, easy money are commonplace.
Wu Shiwei, a researcher at Guizhou University of Finance and Economics, highlighted in a research paper published in May how the lack of a social safety net in rural areas, the wealth gap and urbanisation combined to drive up crime rates in local counties.
Wu said data collected between 1986 to 2012 showed "a definite link" between crime rates and economic growth: "The greater the rural-urban divide, the higher the crime rates."