crowded

Yantai - south - Crowded apartment "dwellings" in the southern section of the city - The real income of the poorest 10% of China's 1.4 billion people fell by 2.4% in the two years to 2003, an analysis by World Bank economists has found. Meanwhile, average incomes for China's richest rose by more than 16%. The findings challenge the basis of government policies aimed at narrowing the country's politically sensitive wealth gap, which President Hu Jintao has made a centerpiece of his administration's economic policies. The Chinese have understated the extent of poverty by defining it as roughly US$83 in annual income, equal to about 5% of average per capita income. The U.S. definition of poverty is 12% of average per capita income. - afternoon
photo: mhobbs