(ECNS) - Urban residents in the Yangtze River Delta are much better off than those in other regions in China, while cities with an average income less than 30,000 yuan ($4,600) mainly lie in central and western China, according to China Business News.
An important indicator of a region's income standard and economic development, per capita disposable income determines an individual's ability to purchase goods or services.
China's national per capita disposable income reached 21,966 yuan in 2015, up 7.4 percent from 2014 in real terms, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Separately, urban per capita disposable income and rural per capita net income reached 31,195 yuan and 11,422 yuan in 2015, respectively, up 6.6 percent and 7.5 percent in real terms after adjusting for inflation from 2014.
But the income varies in regions and cities sharply. Among the top five cities -- Shanghai, Beijing, Suzhou, Hangzhou and Ningbo -- four are in the Yangtze River Delta region, with the capital city the only exception. The region also includes two other economic powers -- Nanjing and Wuxi, which ranked seventh and eighth respectively.
Shanghai took the national lead, with an income level at 52,962 yuan, followed by Beijing at 52,859 yuan. Both metropolises are supported by an advanced service industry, which fosters a concentration of high income earners.
In comparison, cities in the Pearl River Delta lag distinctively behind their Yangtze delta counterparts. Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province, ranked sixth and Shenzhen only made it to the ninth spot.
Tang Gang, vice president of the Shenzhen Party School, said the disparity was due to demographic reasons and industrial structures. Migrant workers accounted for a larger percentage of the population in the Pearl River Delta, weakening the overall income level in the region.
But Peng Peng, vice president of the Guangdong Comprehensive Reform and Development Institute, said the private economy thrives in Guangdong and that many relatively wealthy people prefer a low-profile life and attempt to conceal their wealth.
Geographically, the eastern coastal areas, with the exclusion of the heavy chemical industry-led Tianjin city, are far ahead of central, western and northeastern regions in economic growth. Among the top 16 cities, only Changsha, the capital of Central China's Hunan Province, is not close to the coast.
Four major northeast cities -- Shenyang, Dalian, Harbin and Changchun -- recorded slower economic growth.
An economic official said the industry structure in northeast China relies much on heavy industry. Fewer job opportunities and the subsequent migration of people to southern China also stymies economic growth in northeast China.
