In the first half of 2019, average disposable income increased by 6.5 percent in real terms, exceeding the growth rate of 6.3 percent of GDP over the same period, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.
However, there are complaints that this does not reflect people’s actual livelihoods or China’s comprehensive economic development. The complaints reflect unbalanced development between different regions and groups, wrote Zhang Jingwei, a commentator for the Beijing Youth Daily.
Zhang has noticed that 12 provinces announced higher per capita disposable income rise than local GDP growth there. As eight of the 12 are in the country's mid-west, it indicates that China's less developed area is catching up, he noted.
Meanwhile, although per capita disposable income in nine developed provinces is higher than the national average, the economy there faces the challenge of upgrading to a high quality model, Zhang said. In prosperous Jiangsu and Guangdong provinces, the per capita disposable income rises are even lower than their GDP rises, he added.
In another Beijing Youth Daily article, commentator Pan Fan noted that more statistics are need to know for sure whether the income gap between different groups is narrowing.
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