China urban-rural income gap continues to widen

By Jason Subler

BEIJING, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Chinese incomes grew quickly in
2007, but the gap between city dwellers and rural residents
widened further despite government efforts to ease the imbalance.

The National Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday that the
per-capita disposable income of urban residents reached 13,786
yuan ($1,907) for the full year, showing inflation-adjusted
growth of 12.2 percent from a year earlier.

That outpaced growth in per-capita net incomes of rural
residents, which rose 9.5 percent in real terms to 4,140 yuan
($572.5) for all of 2007.

While that marked an acceleration in income growth for both
groups from a year earlier, it also meant that real urban incomes
grew more quickly than rural ones for the 10th year in a row,
bringing the nominal gap between them to 9,646 yuan.

Consumer inflation was more pronounced in the countryside
than in cities in 2007, meaning more of rural residents' income
gains were eroded by rising prices. Consumer inflation was up 4.5
percent in cities and 5.4 percent in the countryside.

President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao have made
lessening the urban-rural divide a central component of their
political agenda, seeking to share the benefits of growth more
broadly and to stem discontent.

City dwellers' average incomes are now 3.33 times those of
the average for the country's roughly 737 million farmers,
compared with 2.47 times in 1997.

Chinese per capita incomes (full-year figures in yuan;
percent change in real terms from a year earlier):

_____________Level______________ Change (pct)
Year Urban~ Rural Gap Ratio Urban Rural
1997 5,160 2,090 3,070 2.47 3.4 4.6
1998 5,425 2,162 3,263 2.51 5.8 4.3
1999 5,854 2,210 3,644 2.65 9.3 3.8
2000 6,280 2,253 4,027 2.79 6.4 2.1
2001 6,860 2,366 4,494 2.90 8.5 4.2
2002 7,703 2,476 5,227 3.11 13.4 4.8
2003 8,472 2,622 5,850 3.23 9.0 4.3
2004 9,422 2,936 6,486 3.20 7.7 6.8
2005 10,493 3,255 7,238 3.22 9.6 6.2
2006 11,759 3,587 8,172 3.28 10.4 7.4
2007 13,786 4,140 9,646 3.33 12.2 9.5

~Per capita disposable income of urban residents; per capita
net income of rural residents.
($1=7.23 yuan)
(Editing by Ken Wills)