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PRINTHouseholds in rural China have seen incomes increase on average over the past three years, but the wealth gap in the vast countryside has almost reached the warning level, a top Chinese institute for rural studies said Tuesday.
The cash income of rural households grew 14.13 percent from a year earlier to an average of 38,894.4 yuan (6125 US dollars) last year, and the per capita cash income in rural areas rose 11.95 percent to 9,260.6 yuan, according to a survey by Central China Normal University's Center for China Rural Studies.
The survey was launched in 2009 and covered more than 6,000 rural households across the country. The figures have not been adjusted to reflect inflation.
Leaders put rural issues high up the agenda, where resident certificates of most people are registered in rural areas under a system that classifies 1.3 billion people into two groups, farmers and non-farmers.
The institute said in a report released Tuesday that the income growth was fueled by rising wages among farmers who have abandoned rural life to work as migrant laborers outside of their hometowns, mostly in cities.
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