中国网站品牌栏目（频道）
Five percent of China's total population now have annual incomes of at least 300,000 yuan ($45,000) after taxes, according to new research.
Results of a study carried out in more than 10 major cities show roughly 50 million Chinese have passed the 300,000-yuan mark, while 5 million more are taking home more than 1 million yuan a year after taxes.
The primary field of investment for those in the "million club" - most of whom are aged 25 to 50 - is real estate investment, said Lu Xiao, assistant professor at Fudan University's school of management, which led the research.
Information was collected in 2008 in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, as well as second-tier cities in provinces such as Shanxi and Fujian and across the Yangtze River Delta. However, the rising incomes have done little to slow China's widening wealth gap.
The World Bank put the country's Gini coefficient - a key indicator of inequality - at 0.47 in 2005, passing the "red line," and experts say that figure has only increased in recent years.
A 2009 sample survey discovered that the income gap is far larger than the number given by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), said Wang Xiaolu, deputy director of the China Reform Foundation's national economic research institute.
According to the survey of about 4,000 families in more than 60 cities, per capita annual disposable income of high-income families was 139,000 yuan in 2008. The figure recorded by the NBS was 43,000 yuan.
Results for low-income families, however, were fairly similar, with both organizations putting the per capita annual disposable income at about 5,000 yuan in 2008.
A widening wealth gap can highlight several major problems, analysts say.
Wang said the most basic social security system, including healthcare, endowment and unemployment insurance, covers only 40 to 50 percent of more than 300 million workers in towns and cities.
Questions:
1. What percentage of Chinese is considered high-income?
2. What is their income?
3. What about disposable income?
Answers:
1. Five percent of China's total population.
2. They have annual incomes of at least 300,000 yuan ($45,000) after taxes.
3. According to the survey of about 4,000 families in more than 60 cities, per capita annual disposable income of high-income families was 139,000 yuan in 2008.
（中国日报网英语点津 Helen 编辑）
About the broadcaster:
Nelly Min is an editor at China Daily with more than 10 years of experience as a newspaper editor and photographer. She has worked at major newspapers in the U.S., including the Los Angeles Times and the Detroit Free Press. She is also fluent in Korean.
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