“Income shock” such as failing crops, health problems and injury were the main cause of a decline in the incomes of the poorest 10 per cent of China’s 1.3 billion people from 2001 to 2003, the World Bank said on Friday.
World Bank economists revealed last week that the incomes of more than 100 million Chinese had fallen by 2.4 per cent during a period when China’s economy was growing at an average of about 10 per cent annually.
“China’s impressive growth has been an important driver of poverty reduction, but it is true that not everybody has equally benefited from this growth,” David Dollar, the World Bank’s China director, told reporters. [Full Text]