(Ecns) -- The Global Wealth Report 2015 issued by Credit Suisse last week showed that China overtook Japan to become the world's second richest country, with 109 million Chinese being ranked middle class, though an online survey found that more than 90 percent of respondents believe they are not among the middle class, according to Nanfang Daily.
The survey, conducted by Baidu, showed that 93 percent of 460,000 respondents disapprove Credit Suisse's report.
Some argued that to define "a rich country" according to the total value of an household wealth index is too arbitrary, as China's per-capita income is still low.
An earlier survey by CCTV also showed that 92.98 percent of respondents believe they are not among middle class.
Debate on the criteria of "middle class" in China has been ongoing. CCTV's survey also showed that about 38.27 percent believe people with annual income of 100,000 yuan to 200,000 yuan (about $16,000-$32,000) should be ranked as middle class, while about 37.14 percent think income should be set at 200,000 yuan to 500,000 yuan.
Su Hainan, vice president of the China Association For Labour Studies, said an annual income of 60,000 yuan to 120,000 yuan can be used as a "middle class" standard, with middle-income earners in China accounting for about 25 percent under this criterion.
