The yawning regional gap in economic growth is highlighted by a new development index of people's well-being that puts the western provinces of Guizhou, Yunnan and Gansu at the bottom.
The well-being index, said to be the first of its kind on the mainland, was developed by researchers at Beijing Normal University. It aims to offer insight into a region's quality of life, level of public service and social governance by comparing more than a dozen parameters, including income, education, infrastructure and soundness of social security.
While Beijing and the eastern affluent province of Jiangsu ranked first and fourth with 0.739 and 0.524 respectively, Guizhou finished at the bottom with 0.2. The maximum possible score is one.
The index compared all 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions. The study findings are another reminder of the rising inequality in wealth distribution after years of economic success. The Communist Party fears this could threaten social stability and its grip on power.
The index also sounds the alarm at the rising income gaps between urban and rural areas and the rich and poor.
If grey income- a broad category of income ranging from non-salary benefits to bribes for officials- is considered, urban residents earn nearly five times the income of rural residents, including migrant workers, the researchers say. The officials' multiple is 3.3 times rural earnings.
