Report sets standards for housing
A housing development blueprint for both urban and rural dwellers has been set out for the next two decades.
Per-capita living space for urban residents should increase to 35 square metres by 2020, while every rural resident should possess 40 square metres of residential space, the Ministry of Construction said in a national housing outlook report released yesterday.
'The residential housing development should be in line with the country's over-arching goal of building a 'middle-income society' by 2020,' it said.
Building a middle-income society within two decades was a strategic goal announced by the Communist Party two years ago.
In 1984, when adequate housing was defined as an average of eight square metres, the average per-capita living space was only 4.8 square metres.
Last year, per-capita living space had expanded to 23.7 square metres for urban residents and 27 square metres for rural residents.
The ministry said at least half of rural households should have their own baths or showers by 2020, and 30 per cent should have toilets.
