How close is China to complete building a moderately prosperous society in all respects

Despite the impacts of the COVID-19 epidemic, China is slated to complete the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, known as “Xiaokang” in Chinese, this year. With 2020 as the target year of completion, the goals of the society are to eradicate extreme poverty and double gross domestic product (GDP) and per capita income from 2010.

The following facts and figures show China’s decisive victory in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects is in the offing:

 The country’s GDP exceeded 99 trillion yuan (about 14.18 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2019, more than double from over 41 trillion yuan in 2010, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

 The country’s per capita disposable income climbed to 30,733 yuan in 2019, representing an average annual increase of 9.2 percent from 2000. The per capita disposable income in comparable prices expanded 96.6 percent in the 2011-2019 period, with the income-doubling plan nearing completion.

 Residents’ consumption level improved, with the annual per capita consumer spending rising to 21,559 yuan last year, up 78.9 percent from 2012. It also marked an average annual growth of 8.7 percent for the 2012-2019 period.

 The per capita urban consumption surged 64 percent from 2012 to 28,063 yuan in 2019, while per capita rural consumption nearly doubled from 2012 to 13,328 yuan last year.

 The country’s Engel’s coefficient, which measures food expenditures as a proportion of total household spending, dropped to 28.2 percent in 2019, down 14 percentage points from 2000. The measurement for urban people stood at 27.6 percent, down 11 percentage points from 2000, while the figure for rural residents was 30 percent, a decline of 18.3 percentage points.

 Per capita living space of urban residents reached 39.8 square meters last year, up 62.1 percent from 2002, while that for rural residents climbed 97.2 percent from 2000 to 48.9 square meters last year.

 A total of 93.48 million rural residents shook off poverty from 2013 to 2019, with 13.35 million rural people being lifted out of poverty each year on an average.

 The poverty headcount ratio in rural regions dropped from 10.2 percent at the end of 2012 to 0.6 percent at the end of 2019.

 The average life expectancy of the Chinese rose from 74.8 years in 2010 to 77.3 years in 2019.

Source: Xinhua