Today: 9 May 2025
15 June 2021
1 min read

Villagers facing widening income inequality in China

China has an urban population of roughly 900 million while another 500 million live in rural areas…reports Asian Lite News

Beijing’s push to modernise rural areas of China claiming to improving lives and reducing poverty, Chinese villagers across the nation are facing an even wider gap in income inequality against their urban counterparts as an economic opportunity in the countryside remains sparse.

According to Nikkei Asia, Chinese President Xi Jinping in December declared that the last counties on the list of impoverished areas had been removed, ending China’s long fight against extreme poverty. However, rural incomes are falling further behind those in China’s cities, and life in the countryside remains challenging.

“Our everyday life did get better over the last several years, but we’re still struggling,” said a 54-year-old pig farmer who earns less than 30,000 yuan a year.

China has an urban population of roughly 900 million while another 500 million live in rural areas. Urbanites earned 43,834 yuan on average in 2020, while rural residents averaged 17,131 yuan, government data shows.

The gap in actual income between the rural and the poor has widened by 57 per cent over a seven-year period as China’s rural areas have few work options outside agriculture, and the farming field lacks business growth, reported Nikkei Asia.

“Corporations in urban areas achieved growth by hiring low-wage migrant workers and becoming the ‘factory of the world,’ and they’re using villages as colonies. The gap is unlikely to narrow going forward,” said Fumiki Tahara of the University of Tokyo.

Many villagers leave for big cities as migrant workers, whose average earnings reached about 4,000 yuan a month in 2020 — far better pay than for farmers. But they remain far behind office workers. (ANI)

ALSO READ: ‘China’s three-child policy won’t prevent lower annual births’

Previous Story

‘China’s three-child policy won’t prevent lower annual births’

Next Story

Anthony Fauci is Joe Biden’s kryptonite

Latest from -Top News

UAE, Uganda forge closer ties 

President of Uganda received H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed; both countries have deepened ties with strategic agreements in energy, investment and digital innovation  In a significant diplomatic engagement aimed at expanding bilateral

Macron backs Syria sanctions shift 

 Diplomatic outreach, sanctions, reconstruction, and sectarian unrest shape Syria’s complex new chapter.  In a landmark visit signalling Syria’s first re-engagement with a European capital in over a decade, French President Emmanuel Macron

Singapore lauds UAE field aid

A Singaporean delegation visited the UAE Floating Hospital in Al-Arish, where they toured its various departments and were briefed on the medical and humanitarian services provided to patients arriving from the Gaza

Leaders hail new Pope

The UAE President expressed hope that the pontiff’s tenure would advance global harmony, peace, and interfaith understanding President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has extended warm congratulations to Cardinal

UAE calls for calm

Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, urged Inda and Pakistan to “exercise restraint” and avoid further escalation that could imperil regional and global peace The United Arab
Go toTop

Don't Miss

Chinese province orders companies to suspend production

The order has affected nearly 160 energy-intensive companies, mainly the

Beijing lifted curbs on Russian wheat weeks before conflict: Report

The details of the deal emerged when the Chinese General