Is China rich or poor? Nation’s wealth debate muddied by conflicting government data
- Premier Li Keqiang said this week that China has 600 million people with a monthly income of 1,000 yuan (US$140), stoking ongoing debate about China’s wealth
- Alternative government data sets have painted a different picture, with one saying urban households have on average on 3.2 million yuan in assets
A long-standing debate over whether China is a rich or poor nation has been reignited in recent weeks after the government released a series of diverging data sets on wealth in the world’s second biggest economy.
“It’s barely enough to cover monthly rent in a mid-sized Chinese city,” Li told a press conference in Beijing.
Li’s comments add weight to the argument that China is a relatively poor country, as over 40 per cent of its 1.4 billion people are still living on a daily income of less than US$5.
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But his script contrasts with other, recently released data about Chinese wealth, which paints the country as far better off.
Ning Jizhe, the head of China’s National Bureau of Statistics, said last Sunday the nation had accumulated 1,300 trillion (US$182 trillion) yuan worth of assets at the end of 2019, in the form of infrastructure facilities.
The statement, which implied the country has nearly 1 million yuan in assets for every citizen, was widely ridiculed as it makes every Chinese a “millionaire”.
The People’s Bank of China triggered a similar controversy in April after it published a survey of urban Chinese households that said each on average had assets worth 3.2 million yuan at end of 2019, or about US$450,000, including property and financial assets.