Question

Write an essay on an issue related to problems arising from China’s urban-rural divide (e.g. the plight of “low-end population” and the lack of social protection in cities). (800-1000 words)

Answer 1

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Abstract

Urban and rural population of China 2008-2018. In 2018, about 831 million people lived in urban regions in China and 564 million in rural.

That year, the country reached a total population of approximately 1.39 billion people. As of 2018, China was the most populous country in the world

Income inequality between China’s rural and urban areas has surged in recent years. The per capita income of urban households in 2012 was about three times that of the rural households, whereas in 1978 it was about two and half times higher.

Rural population (% of total population) in China was reported at 39.69 % in 2019, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators.

This widening inequality has taken place against a backdrop of rapid growth in both urban and rural incomes, as well as in a sharp increase of the share of the urban population.

The income gap fell sharply in the early years of reform, when the rural sector was then the primary focus of policy. But as the economy opened up and expanded, the urban-rural income gap began to rise.

There is  large urban-rural income gaps in China because it restricts the ability of workers to move from poor rural areas to more productive urban regions.

Moreover, easy access to the already densely populated coastal areas for trade and jobs, as well as the country’s industrial policy, favoured faster urbanisation in eastern China, while boosting living standards in that region.

Caution is needed in assessing this type of downgrading trends, because it is very difficult of capturing migrants’ earnings and because of the unclear boundaries between urban and rural areas.

Big problem of the social protection net were still missing. Many rural residents, unemployed urban residents, and jobless migrants were not covered by pension programs.

In china some densely built up places around cities still classed as rural.

Moreover, the available data do not take into account the cost of living or income subsidies, both of which are higher in urban areas.

However due to recent government reforms, Investments were boosted to increase affordable housing, and taxes were reformed to be more progressive; health care, education, and cultural spending was targeted to rural areas, which also benefited from spending on roads, rail, and power systems.

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