China has witnessed rapid income and consumption growth in rural areas over the past 70 years, according to a report from the National Bureau of Statistics.
In 2018, rural per capita disposable income had increased 40 times from 1949 to stand at 14,617 Chinese yuan (about US$2,088) in real terms after deducting price factors, up 5.5% on average annually, the Xinhua News Agency reported, citing the National Bureau of Statistics.
Between 2013 and 2018, the number of people living in poverty in rural areas in China was reduced by 82.39 million people, with an average annual poverty reduction of 13.73 million individuals, or a cumulative poverty reduction rate of 83.2%.
The incidence of rural poverty also dropped from 10.2% at the end of 2012 to 1.7% at the end of 2018. The incidence of rural poverty in 10 provinces fell below 1.0%, and the absolute poverty problem in China is expected to be resolved over time.
The country’s urban-rural income gap has narrowed remarkably, with the ratio of per capita disposable income for urban residents to that of rural residents hitting 2.69 in 2018, 0.64 lower than in 1956. Per capita living space in rural areas reached 47.3 square meters, sharply contrasting with the 8.1 square meters recorded in 1978, according to the report.
Household consumption in rural areas also increased, with the average ownership of cars, computers and cell phones per 100 households reaching 22.3, 26.9 and 257, respectively, in 2018.
By the end of 2018, full access to electricity was expected in all the remote villages in the countryside across the nation, where villages would also be 99.2% connected by landline, 88.1% by cable TV, and 81.9% by broadband internet.