Guangzhou points to errors in report putting its per capita income at US$10,000

Guangzhou's Bureau of Statistics has rushed to clarify a report that said the city's gross domestic product per capita had reached US$10,000 last year, stressing the calculation was flawed.

Yesterday's clarification came a day after the influential China Central Television evening news highlighted the widely reported figure and announced the city had become the first on the mainland to reach the threshold - an indicator put forward by the World Bank for 'developed economy' status.

The original report divided Guangzhou's GDP, put at 623.6 billion yuan, by 7.02 million, the number of people permanently resident in the city, and concluded the GDP per capita was around US$11,000 last year. The 623.6 billion yuan was calculated by multiplying published GDP in 2005 by an estimated growth rate of 14.4 per cent.

But an official with the city's Bureau of Statistics said the calculation was flawed and the figure inaccurate, the Guangzhou-based Southern Daily reported.

'The GDP figure took inflation into consideration while the rate of increase did not; you can't simply multiply them to get a value,' the official said.

Qu Jian , a researcher at the Shenzhen Economic Development Academy, said: 'The denominator only included people with residency, which is much smaller than the actual size of the labour force that contributes to the economy. If calculated this way, Shenzhen and Shanghai should have already surpassed the US$10,000 benchmark.'