The following are facts and figures about the living standard of China's rural residents in the Ninth Five-Year Plan period (1996-2000), provided by the State Development Planning Commission.
The per-capita net income of rural residents increased 632 yuan since 1995 to 2,210 yuan in 1999, an average year-on-year rise of 4 percent.
Foodstuff accounted for 52.6 percent of rural people's total expenditure in 1999, down 6 percentage points from 1995.
Per-capita living space of rural residents averaged 24.5 square meter in 1999, as compared to 21 square meters in 1995.
On average, every rural household had a television set in 1999.
(People’s Daily 10/02/2000)
