Income inequality in china

China’s wealth gap has widened so much that the country now one of the most unequal outside of sub-Saharan Africa. A respected Chinese institute found this week that China’s Gini coefficient, a number that represents income inequality, has soared from 0.41 a decade ago to 0.61 today. Anything over 0.5 is considered to be destabilizing, and South Africa, where opulent mansions border shantytowns that lack water, scores a 0.65. Nearly half a billion Chinese live on $2 a day or less. Chinese economists urged tax reform and increased spending on social services. “Taxation has so far failed to shape a healthy income distribution, which it is supposed to do,” said economist Gan Li.