Households' Income and Consumption Expenditure in the First Quarter of 2021

National Bureau of Statistics of China 2021-04-19 10:00 Print| Large| Medium| Small

I. Households' Income

In the first quarter, the per capita disposable income of residents in China was 9,730 yuan, a nominal increase of 13.7 percent over the same period of last year, and a real increase of 13.7 percent after deducting price factors; a 14.6 percent increase over the first quarter of 2019, an average increase of 7.0 percent in two years, and an average real increase of 4.5 percent after deducting price factors. In the first quarter, China's per capita disposable income continued the trend of quarter-by-quarter growth since the same period of last year, maintaining a stable and restorative growth.

From the perspective of urban and rural areas, the per capita disposable income of urban residents was 13,120 yuan, an increase of 12.2 percent (it is the nominal growth rate on a year-on-year basis if there is no special explanation below), with an actual increase of 12.3 percent after deducting the price factor; the per capita disposable income of rural residents was 5,398 yuan, an increase of 16.3 percent, with an actual increase of 16.3 percent after deducting the price factor.

In the first quarter, the median per capita disposable income of Chinese residents was 8,014 yuan, an increase of 12.7 percent, and the median was 82.4 percent of the average. Among them, the median per capita disposable income of urban residents was 11,090 yuan, an increase of 10.5 percent, and the median was 84.5 percent of the average; the median per capita disposable income of rural residents was 4,340 yuan, an increase of 19.7 percent, and the median was 80.4 percent of the average.

According to the source of income, in the first quarter, the per capita wage income of residents in China was 5,505 yuan, an increase of 12.4 percent, accounting for 56.6 percent of the disposable income; the per capita net operating income was 1,645 yuan, an increase of 19.5 percent, accounting for 16.9 percent of the disposable income; the per capita net property income was 867 yuan, an increase of 17.0 percent, accounting for 8.9 percent of the disposable income; the per capita net transfer income was 1,714 yuan, an increase of 10.7 percent, accounting for 17.6 percent of the disposable income.

II. Consumption Expenditure of Households

In the first quarter, the per capita consumption expenditure of residents in China was 5,978 yuan, a nominal increase of 17.6 percent over the same period of last year. After deducting the price factor, the actual increase was 17.6 percent, 8.0 percent over the first quarter of 2019, an average increase of 3.9 percent in two years, and an average real increase of 1.4 percent in two years after deducting the price factor.

In terms of urban and rural areas, the per capita consumption expenditure of urban residents was 7,495 yuan, an increase of 15.7 percent, and the actual growth was 15.8 percent after deducting the price factor; the per capita consumption expenditure of rural residents was 4,039 yuan, an increase of 21.1 percent, and the actual growth was 21.1 percent after deducting the price factor.

In the first quarter, the per capita consumption expenditure of food, tobacco and alcohol was 1,986 yuan, an increase of 16.3 percent, accounting for 33.2 percent of the per capita consumption expenditure; the per capita consumption expenditure of clothing was 437 yuan, an increase of 18.4 percent, accounting for 7.3 percent of the per capita consumption expenditure; that of the housing was 1,345 yuan, an increase of 8.7 percent, accounting for 22.5 percent of the per capita consumption expenditure; that of daily necessities and services was 339 yuan, an increase of 19.9 percent, accounting for 5.7 percent of per capita consumption expenditure; that of transportation and communication consumption was 702 yuan, an increase of 16.0 percent, accounting for 11.7 percent of per capita consumption expenditure; that of education, culture and entertainment was 545 yuan, an increase of 55.7 percent, accounting for 9.1 percent of per capita consumption expenditure; that of health care was 484 yuan, an increase of 16.1 percent, accounting for 8.1 percent of per capita consumption expenditure; that of other goods and services was 139 yuan, an increase of 24.2 percent, accounting for 2.3 percent of the per capita consumption expenditure.

Table 1 Income and Expenditure Nationwide in the First Quarter of 2021

Item

Absolute Value

( yuan)

Y/Y(%)

Total Per Capita Income Nationwide

9730

13.7（13.7）

　Grouped by Permanent Residence

Urban Households

13120

12.2（12.3）

Rural Households

5398

16.3（16.3）

　Grouped by Income Source

Income of Wages and Salaries

5505

12.4

Net Business Income

1645

19.5

Net Income from Property

867

17.0

Net Income from Transfer

1714

10.7

Total Per Capita Income Nationwide Median

8014

12.7

　Grouped by Permanent Residence

Urban Households

11090

10.5

Rural Households

4340

19.7

Total Per Capita Expenditure Nationwide

5978

17.6（17.6）

　Grouped by Permanent Residence

Urban Households

7495

15.7（15.8）

Rural Households

4039

21.1（21.1）

　Grouped by Consumption Category

Food, tobacco and liquor

1986

16.3

Clothing

437

18.4

Residence

1345

8.7

Household facilities, articles and services

339

19.9

Transportation and telecommunication

702

16.0

Education, culture and recreation

545

55.7

Health care and medical services

484

16.1

Miscellaneous goods and services

139

24.2

Notes:

1. Per capita disposable income of households = per capita disposable income of urban households * proportion of urban population + per capita disposable income of rural households * proportion of rural population.

2. Nominal growth rate of per capita disposable income of households = (per capita disposable income of households in the current year / per capita disposable income of households in the previous year - 1) * 100%; actual growth rate of per capita disposable income of households = (per capita disposable income of households in the current year / per capita disposable income of households in the previous year / per capita consumer price index of households in the same period - 1) * 100%.

3. The per capita income and expenditure data of the whole country is based on the basic data of sampling survey of more than 100000 households, and weighted and summarized according to the number of households represented by each sample household. Influenced by urbanization, population migration and other factors, the composition of population in different periods has changed, which sometimes leads to the phenomenon that the growth rate of some income and Expenditure Projects of the whole country exceeds the growth range of corresponding income and Expenditure Projects of urban and rural households. It is mainly in the process of urbanization that some people with higher income in rural areas enter urban areas, but they belong to lower income groups in urban areas, and their migration has a pull down effect on part of the income and expenditure of urban and rural households; however, no matter in urban or rural areas, the growth effect will be reflected in the income and expenditure growth of all households.

4. In the growth column compared with the previous year, the data in brackets is the actual growth rate, while others are the nominal growth rate.

5. The average and median income are statistics reflecting the trend of households' income concentration. The average can not only directly reflect the overall situation, but also reflect the overall structure, which is convenient for the comparison of income levels of different groups, but also vulnerable to the influence of extreme data; the median reflects the situation of the object in the middle position, which is relatively stable and can avoid the influence of extreme data, but cannot reflect the structure.

Table 2: Income and Expenditure of Urban and Rural Households in the First Quarter of 2021
Item	Absolute Value (yuan)	Nominal Increase Y/Y (%)

Total Per Capita Income of Urban Households	13120	12.2
Grouped by Income Source
Income of Wages and Salaries	7942	10.1
Net Business Income	1583	25.3
Net Income from Property	1425	16.2
Net Income from Transfer	2169	9.0
Total Per Capita Expenditure of Urban Households	7495	15.7
Grouped by Consumption Category
Food, tobacco and liquor	2404	13.9
Clothing	557	15.6
Residence	1783	7.0
Household facilities, articles and services	418	17.1
Transportation and telecommunication	854	14.4
Education, culture and recreation	706	49.9
Health care and medical services	586	18.6
Miscellaneous goods and services	187	24.3
Total Per Capita Income of Rural Households	5398	16.3
Grouped by Income Source
Income of Wages and Salaries	2391	19.7
Net Business Income	1724	13.5
Net Income from Property	153	12.6
Net Income from Transfer	1131	16.8
Total Per Capita Expenditure of Rural Households	4039	21.1
Grouped by Consumption Category
Food, tobacco and liquor	1451	20.5
Clothing	284	24.3
Residence	786	12.3
Household facilities, articles and services	239	25.5
Transportation and telecommunication	508	18.5
Education, culture and recreation	340	70.6
Health care and medical services	353	10.3
Miscellaneous goods and services	77	22.2

Annotations:

1. Explanatory Notes

Disposable income of Households refers to the sum of final consumption expenditure and savings that residents can use, that is, the income that residents can use for free disposal, including both cash income and physical income. According to the source of income, disposable income includes wage and salary income, net business income, net property income and net transfer income.

Consumer spending refers to all the expenditures that residents use to meet their daily needs, including both cash and physical consumption. Consumer spending includes eight categories: food, tobacco and alcohol, clothing, housing, daily necessities and services, transportation and communication, education, culture and recreation, medical care and other supplies and services.

The median of the nationwide per capita disposable income of households refers to the per capita disposable income of households which lies in the middle of all surveyed households ranked from low to high on the basis of per capita disposable income level.

The quarterly income and expenditure data do not include the income and consumption of the self-produced and self-used parts of households, and the annual income and expenditure data includes.

2. Survey Methods

The national and sub urban and rural households' income and expenditure data comes from the household income and expenditure and living conditions survey organized and implemented by the National Bureau of Statistics, which is released quarterly.

Using stratified, multi-stage, probability sampling method proportional to the size of population, the National Bureau of Statistics randomly selected 160000 households in 1800 counties (cities, districts) of 31 provinces (regions, cities) as survey households.

According to the unified system and method, the survey organizations directly under the National Bureau of statistics will organize the household to record and collect the data of households' income, expenditure, family operation, production and investment; meanwhile, according to the unified questionnaire, collect other surveys such as the employment of household members and labor force, the ownership of housing and durable consumer goods, and the enjoyment of households' basic social and public services. After the completion of data collection, the municipal and county survey organizations use unified methods and data processing procedures to code, review and input the original investigation data, and then directly transmit the basic household data to the National Bureau of Statistics for unified summary and calculation.