An Analysis of Changes in the Extent of Income Disparity in China (2013-2018)

Since reform and opening up, China’s income disparity has generally widened, but there are different views of the way it has changed over the past decade. An analysis of the 2013 and 2018 household survey data of the China Household Income Project (CHIP) reveals that the factors contributing to the narrowing and widening of the income gap during this period offset each other, with the result that the income gap generally remained stable at a high level. The narrowing of the urban-rural income gap as well as the changes in wage income, pension income, estimated rent for owned housing and transfer income, helped to narrow the income gap, while changes in income distribution for the floating population, non-farm business income and property income led to the widening of the gap.