THE middle class is being squeezed, according to a new study which reveals the widest gap between rich and poor in 10 years.
The top 10 per cent of households shares 42 per cent of the territory's gross income, while the bottom 50 per cent shares just 19 per cent of the wealth, according to the Hong Kong Social Security Society.
The society's analysis of government statistics released last month, on distribution of domestic households, found the economy had benefited the richest minority for the past decade.
Among 10 classes of households grouped according to their incomes, only the top class had seen a rise - of 17.75 per cent - in their share in the territory's wealth since 1986.
The shares of all other groups had dropped - by 4.61 per cent for the second-richest group and by 31.25 per cent for the poorest.
The middle strata, the fifth and sixth-richest groups, saw their shares of the wealth fall by eight per cent to seven per cent and by 11 per cent to 5.7 per cent.
The society, which is trying to identify the cause of the phenomenon, said the poverty problem and a widening gap between rich and poor had become too obvious for the Government to ignore.