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16 Jan, 2016

Report: Top 1% holds one-third of China’s wealth

By Liang Jun

Beijing, (People’s Daily Online), 14 Jan 2016 – A recent report showed that income and wealth inequality is worsening in China. The top 1 percent of households own around one-third of China’s wealth, while the bottom 25 percent of them have only 1 percent. The report, released by a research institute at Peking University, shows that the inequality in income and assets between households in the country has been getting increasingly serious.

Report: Top 1% holds one-third of China's wealth

Over the past 30 years, the Gini coefficient has increased from 0.3 in the early 1980s to 0.45 in 2015. In 2012, the figure was 0.49—far higher than the warning line of 0.4.

The report is based on China Family Panel Studies (CFPS). CFPS covers 14,960 households in 160 regions and counties of 250 cities, and focuses on the situations, differences, causes and social mechanisms of livelihood issues.

Besides income and wealth inequality, the differences in educational opportunities and health care are also very obvious, according to the report.

These inequalities are growing steadily. If they cannot be effectively solved, they may very likely threaten social stability and thus become a bottleneck in future social development, the report says.