Foreign exchange reserves rank first in the world, GDP ranks second in the world, exports rank first in the world, automobile production and sales rank first in the world, and oil consumption ranks second in the world ... When China is "one of the best" in many economic aggregate indicators, many ordinary people often clearly point out that China has a large population and a vast territory, and the key to economic development depends on per capita possession. Recently, however, when the China Academy of Social Sciences released a report saying that even in terms of per capita gross national income, China has also ranked among the upper-middle income countries, many people questioned whether our personal income was "upper-middle" while generally enhancing our sense of national honor and pride.

China has become a "middle and upper income country".

Recently, Professor Zhang Qizai, a researcher and assistant director of the Institute of Industrial Economics of China Academy of Social Sciences, said at the press conference of Blue Book of Industrial Competitiveness that after evaluating and comparing the competitiveness of various international industries, it was found that "China's industrial international competitiveness is now in the first place, higher than that of the United States, Hongkong and Taiwan Province Province". Zhang Qizai said that according to the World Bank's 20 1 1 standard, China has entered the upper-middle income country this year, and is facing the test of "middle income trap" in which economic growth slows down and per capita income is difficult to improve. He suggested improving the overall national income level by improving industrial competitiveness.

It is understood that China was a low-income country until the mid-1980s. Later, it began to step into the ranks of middle-income countries; After 10 years of efforts, it has changed from a low-middle income country to an upper-middle income country.

Experts pointed out that after becoming a middle-income country, many countries are facing a "middle-income trap", that is, after becoming a middle-income country, it will be accompanied by weak economic growth and it is difficult to improve the per capita income level. This phenomenon first appeared in Latin America and then began to appear in some Asian countries. The Blue Book suggests vigorously improving the competitiveness of China's high-tech industries and changing from export-oriented to import-substituted; Further improve the productivity of low-tech industries; At the same time, strengthen the construction of medium and strategic emerging industries, creative industries and service industries in innovation chain.

Related links World Bank's national income grouping standards

The World Bank classifies countries according to their per capita gross national income (GNI). Generally speaking, countries in the world are divided into four categories, namely, low-income countries, low-middle income countries, high-middle income countries and high-income countries.

However, the above standards are not fixed, but constantly adjusted with the development of the economy. According to the data released by the World Bank, the latest income grouping criteria in 2008 are: low-income countries with per capita national income below 975 dollars, low-middle income countries with per capita national income between 976 and 3855 dollars, and middle-high income countries with per capita national income between 3856- 1 1905 dollars, with per capita national income at1/.

According to the data released by the World Bank, the per capita gross national income of China in the past five years was US$ 2,050, US$ 2,490, US$ 3,050, US$ 3,650 and US$ 4,260 respectively. 20 10 China reached the national standard of upper-middle income of the world bank for the first time.

Why does it make people feel "not obvious"?

"China has become an upper-middle income country? Why is my feeling not obvious? Could it be that I was averaged again this time? " Many people sighed after seeing this news.

The reason why ordinary people feel this way is mainly because the standard of per capita gross national income adopted by the World Bank is not the same as the per capita disposable income that can enter the pockets of ordinary people. The former mainly measures the economic strength of the whole country, while the latter reflects the actual income of ordinary people. And many people think that their income is "upper middle class", probably because the per capita gross national income of $4,260 is not much.

It is understood that the proportion of residents' income in GDP in western developed countries is generally 50%~60%. For example, the United States is 65%, Japan is 60%, and Britain is as high as 7 1%. In contrast, the ratio of residents' income to GDP in China is much lower, and there is a downward trend. Chen Zhiwu, a professor of financial economics at Yale University, pointed out that China's total GDP jumped from 1980 to 16% in 2006, but at the same time, the proportion of workers' compensation in GDP dropped from 56% in 1980 to 36% in 2006, which dropped by nearly 20 percentage points in 20 years.

Because the proportion of labor remuneration in the initial distribution is too low, "doing more and earning less" has become a bitter and helpless fable of the times. It is precisely because of the lack of money that the consumption power of ordinary residents has not been high. Although the income of many workers has increased in recent years, it has always failed to keep pace with the increase in prices. The pressure on people's livelihood has also increased. No wonder many people don't feel that their income has reached the level of upper-middle income countries.

The reform of income distribution needs greater efforts.

Many experts also pointed out that the growing per capita gross national income can't hide the growing gap between the rich and the poor in China. Commentator Ji even bluntly said that the World Bank's criteria for dividing wealth did not take into account the issue of fair distribution. He said: "I think the World Bank should add another standard: if the Gini coefficient is above 0.5, even if your per capita gross national income is above $654.38+$0.00 million, you will be directly kicked out of the group."

It can be seen that for ordinary people in China, the symbolic significance of China becoming an "upper-middle-income country" is greater than the actual significance, just like China becoming the "second largest economy in the world", because the national economic strength cannot be equal to the national consumption strength, and the stronger the national economic strength, it does not mean that its pockets are getting bigger and bigger. Therefore, in order to make ordinary people truly realize the great achievements of China's economic development and turn more national wealth into disposable wealth of residents, the government needs to make more efforts in the reform of income distribution.