In China, a wide gap between rich and poor

BEIJING, July 19 (UPI) -- A Peking University study said that the average income in China in 2012 was $2,100 and that the gap between the rich and the poor was significant.

Chinese households at the top 5 percent of all income earners took in 23 percent of the total, while the bottom 5 percent earned 0.1 percent, the study found.

The New York Times reported Friday there was also a wide disparity between incomes earned in urban areas and incomes earned in rural settings.

The average annual income in Shanghai was came to $4,700. In the Gansu Province, in northwest China, the average income was about $2,000, said the survey conducted by the Chinese Family Panel Studies at Peking University.

The study found regional differences in the unemployment rate that ranged from 4.4 percent to 9.2 percent.

More than 87 percent of Chinese families own property and more than 10 percent own more than one piece of property, the study found.

The study involved interviews with 14,960 households in five Chinese provinces. In addition, 57,155 people filled out questionnaires, the Times said.